Reuters - Organizers of a parade for Iraq war veterans that drew thousands of flag waving spectators in St. Louis last weekend have been asked by people around the country for help in planning similar events, officials said Friday.

AP - A St. Louis parade welcoming home Iraq War and other post-Sept. 11 veterans was such a hit that at least 10 other cities around the country are considering similar celebrations.

AP - Iraq's most prominent Shiite cleric has urged politicians to make concessions to solve the country's ongoing political crisis, an aide to the leader said on Friday.

Reuters - Iraq's highest court ratified death sentences on Thursday for three men convicted of a 2010 attack on a Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad, the bloodiest attack on Iraqi Christians after the 2003 invasion.

Reuters - Upheaval in the Middle East and mutual economic interests are drawing together two unlikely partners; rising powerhouse Turkey and an entity whose name Turkish leaders hardly dare mention - Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq.

Reuters - Iraq executed 17 people on Wednesday, days after U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay criticized Baghdad for carrying out a large number of executions and questioned the fairness of its judicial proceedings.

Reuters - In the money changing shops dotted around Baghdad's Karrada district, Iraqi merchants dabble in many currencies, but these days some joke that banknotes from neighboring Iran and Syria are only worth plastering on windows as decorations.

Reuters - President Barack Obama on Monday played down the use of U.S. drones in Iraq, saying the program was very limited and focused mainly on protecting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Sara Sorcher of the National Journal reports the Department of Defense cannot account for some $2 billion given to it by the government of Iraq to pay bills on contracts awarded in 2003 and 2004. Auditors claim poor record-keeping led to the inability to track the money, while others insist that acceptable efforts were made and that the money made it to the appropriate recipients.

AP - The Obama administration is preparing to begin talks with Iraq on defining a long-term defense relationship that may include expanded U.S. training help, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's chief policy aide.

Reuters - Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc said Sunday it would end a boycott of parliament, easing the worst political crisis in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government in a year.

ContributorNetwork - The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the Gateway City was living up to its reputation Saturday. A homegrown parade honored Iraq War veterans as the first major event of its kind in a large American city. Troops and their families were moved to tears by the support of their neighbors and complete strangers who showed up to honor the sacrifices of troops returning home.

AP - Veterans who attended the nation's first major Iraq War parade Saturday in St. Louis said they appreciated the welcome home, even though some expected to be redeployed to Afghanistan or elsewhere in the coming months. Here are a few of their stories:

AP - Eugene Police Officer Dan Baker drove a blue SUV and set off sirens to clear cars in front of him at traffic lights. He pulled over motorists — though it's unclear if he ever gave out tickets. And when he stopped by a youth shelter as a volunteer, he came in full uniform.

AP - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there will be no city parade for Iraq War veterans in the foreseeable future because of objections voiced by military officials.

Reuters - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled taxi near a Shi'ite funeral procession in Baghdad on Friday, killing 31 people and bringing the death toll from violence since an Iraqi political crisis erupted in December to more than 400.

AP - Iraqi officials say a suicide attack on a Baghdad Shiite district has killed 26 people.

AP - Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a U.S. raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone U.S. Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time.

Reuters - The United States has warned Iraq not to "blow this opportunity" to become a prosperous, unified nation, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, saying it must start to act like a democracy and embrace compromise.

Reuters - Iraq plans legal action on behalf of families of victims killed by U.S. troops in a 2005 massacre after the last soldier involved was spared jail time by a guilty plea with military authorities, a government spokesman said Thursday.