Lawyers

• Iraq's Maliki rejects blame for fall of Mosul

  Iraq's former prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, on Tuesday denounced as worthless a parliamentary report which blamed him and others for the fall of Mosul to Islamic State last year and called for them to be referred to the judiciary.

• Iraq PM sacks cabinet officials, says reform drive under threat

  Iraq's prime minister dismissed his cabinet secretary on Wednesday as part of an ambitious reform drive he said was under threat from corrupt politicians and Shi'ite militia leaders who use their armed followers for political ends.

• U.S. defense chief makes surprise trip to Iraq

  U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thursday to get a first-hand assessment of the campaign against Islamic State as Iraq tries to retake the fallen capital of Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

• Obama, Iraq's Abadi to discuss Islamic State fight in White House meeting

  Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and President Barack Obama will discuss the fight against Islamic State on Tuesday at a White House meeting likely to be dominated by Iraqi requests for U.S. arms and tension over Iran's role on the battlefield.

• Iraq's new premier battles to unite a fractured nation

  Three months after he took office with a mission to unite his broken, warring country, Iraq's new prime minister has swept away the divisive legacy of his predecessor with a burst of rapid and dramatic measures.

• Islamic State drags Obama back into Mideast quagmire

  American-led and Arab-backed air strikes carrying the fight against Islamic State from Iraq into Syria have dragged Washington into a new Middle East war - exactly the kind of conflict Barack Obama spent his presidency trying to avoid.

• Washington wins diplomatic support for campaign in Iraq; Syria trickier

  World powers backed military measures on Monday to help defeat Islamic State fighters in Iraq, boosting Washington's efforts to set up a coalition, but made no mention of the tougher diplomatic challenge next door in Syria.