A top U.S. commander says he will give U.S. leaders the assessment they are expecting in September on progress in Iraq. But Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, speaking to reporters via teleconference from Baghdad, said he would need at least until November to tell if any improvements represented long-term trends.

Political pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is growing in Washington as well as Baghdad. VOA's Margaret Besheer reports from Iraq that the coming weeks could be make or break for the Maliki government.

President Bush has used his weekly radio address to defend his administration's strategy in Iraq, after a report this week delivered a mixed assessment of the country's military and political progress.

As early as today, the White House is to issue an interim report on the Iraqi government's progress in meeting goals set by the U.S. Congress. The report will say how the government has performed on 18 security and political benchmarks.

Amid deepening challenges in Iraq, a dozen senior Iraqi religious and civil-society leaders have gathered at the United Nations to help forge global partnerships to rebuild Iraqi national consensus.

The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI discussed "the worrying situation" in Iraq with U.S. President George W. Bush during a meeting at the Vatican today. The Holy See said the pontiff told Bush he would like to see a "regional and negotiated" solution to conflicts in the Middle East.

More than 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes, seeking refuge either inside the country or beyond its borders as the situation deteriorates, the United Nations refugee agency said, urging countries to do more to ease their plight.

President Bush is receiving a closed-door briefing from senior military officials at the Pentagon Thursday on the situation in Iraq. The meeting takes place one day after a group of moderate congressional Republicans had what is being described as an unusually "blunt" discussion on Iraq with Mr. Bush and his senior aides at the White House.

The top U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus, says the situation in that country is "very tough." Petraeus told reporters at the Pentagon today that the U.S. war effort faces the most complex challenge he has ever seen as a soldier.

Thousands of Iraqis have marched peacefully through the streets of the southern city of Al-Basrah to demand the resignation of a provincial governor. Residents have complained of inadequate electricity, garbage disposal, and water supplies. Demonstrators gathered near an Al-Basrah mosque, then marched to the governor's office, which was surrounded by Iraqi soldiers and police.

Iran said its officials have no plans to meet with U.S. officials on the sidelines of an upcoming conference on Iraq. Iran's official IRNA news agency quotes Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying that "talks with the U.S. [are] not on Iran's agenda."

In a letter to Arab leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a time limit for the U.S. military presence in Iraq. In a message sent to the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, Putin said he was "deeply concerned" over the situation in Iraq.