Iraq's foreign minister says his government and the United States have "almost finalized" a long-term security pact.

International oil companies are negotiating their return to Iraq 36 years after their expulsion from the country by former dictator Saddam Hussein. On 30 June, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, BP and ExxonMobil will sign agreements with Baghdad about providing maintenance work and technical support for Iraqi oil facilities over the next two years.

US military deaths plunged in May to the lowest monthly level in more than four years and civilian casualties were down sharply, too, as Iraqi forces assumed the lead in offensives in three cities and a truce with Shiite extremists took hold.

The US military announced on Thursday that the withdrawal of another 4,000 troops from Iraq next month as violence across the country hit a four-year low.

Iraq's former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, the Saddam Hussein regime's principal spokesman to the outside world, finds himself before the Iraqi High Tribunal. The joint trial of Aziz and seven other henchmen of Saddam Hussein, including "Chemical" Ali Hassan al-Majid, started on Tuesday.

Iraq's Prime Minister ordered a nationwide freeze on Iraqi raids against Shiite militants, bowing to demands by anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr only one day after promising to expand the crackdown to Baghdad.

Many questions are raised about the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq as the leadership was praising it. The present outright civil war in Iraq "underscores surge failure" and Sadr reins in Shiite militiamen, sends mixed signals, offers truce, but the fighting continues.

Bush blames the Congress of hectoring and says that Iraqi leaders don't need that as they are making progress.

The death of four soldiers Sunday from a roadside improvised explosive device has raised the total of American soldiers in Iraq to die in combat has reached 4,000. The four soldiers were traveling in their vehicle in southern Baghdad around 10 a.m. local time, when the vehicle was hit by an explosion from the IED. A fifth soldier was wounded. Following standard procedure, the identities of those killed have been withheld pending notification of relatives.

Going to school students open their books to look at a colour picture of Saddam Hussein on the first page. That was five years ago. How has life changed in five years? Looking at some Iraqi citizens the answer is mixed.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is in Ankara in a bid to ease tensions following Turkey's military assault against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Iraqi officials say the government has approved the death sentence for "Chemical Ali," a cousin of Saddam Hussein, who is widely known for his role in poison gas attacks on the Kurds. As Daniel Schearf reports from Irbil, the sentence is expected to be carried within a month.