6) British, Australian and Japanese troops will transfer security responsibilities in southern Iraq to Iraqi authorities next week, and withdraw from the area soon afterward, Kyodo News said Friday. (AP via Yahoo! News)

June 16, 2006:


1) Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will announce next week that Japan is ending a military mission in Iraq, its first since World War II to a country where fighting is underway, reports say. (AFP via Yahoo! News)


2) At least 19 people were killed across Iraq, including 11 in Baghdad when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a massive Shiite mosque despite a security crackdown in the capital, police said. (AFP via Yahoo! News)


3) An Egyptian explosives expert who trained with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan is the new face of al-Qaida in Iraq, the U.S. military says. (AP via Yahoo! News)


4) Rancorous election-year debate in the House culminates Friday as Republicans force Democrats to vote on a resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of a global fight on terrorism and says an "arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" of troops is not in the national interest. (CNN.com)


5) A top government official said Friday that Iraq has an agreement to take over security responsibilities from foreign forces in southern Iraq this month. (AP via Yahoo! News)





Regards,
angelfalls!!