Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday decided to give 100,000 barrels of oil to neighbouring Jordan, which has been hit by protests over rising fuel prices, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

Top federal and Kurdish security officials agreed in Baghdad on Monday to "activate" coordinating committees between their forces and work to calm the situation in northern Iraq, a statement said.

The premier of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region said Monday that dialogue, not force, holds the key to ending a crisis with Baghdad that has seen military reinforcements sent to disputed areas.

Shiite Muslims marching during Ashura rituals in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Saturday mixed mourning the death of Imam Hussein over 1,300 years ago with chants condemning modern politicians.

Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said on Saturday that "significant progress" has been made on resolving an Arab-Kurd crisis and a meeting on the issue will be held in Baghdad next week.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was not opposed to talks between the state and the jailed Kurdish leader in a bid to bring an end to the insurgency, media reported Tuesday.

The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on a Hezbollah chief blamed for attacks against US forces in Iraq, after Baghdad authorities freed him from custody last week.

Hundreds of Kurdish prisoners on Sunday ended a 68-day hunger strike aimed at pressuring the Turkish government to give them more rights, after an appeal by jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Some 700 Kurdish prisoners across Turkey on Sunday ended a 68-day hunger strike after an appeal by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who said at the weekend that the action had achieved its goal.

Some 700 Kurdish prisoners across Turkey on Sunday ended a 68-day hunger strike after an appeal by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firatnews reported.

Iraq has freed a Hezbollah member accused of plotting to kill five US soldiers in a move that has triggered anger in the United States, US and Iraqi officials said on Friday.

The formation of a new military headquarters covering disputed territory in northern Iraq has sent already-poor relations between Baghdad and its autonomous Kurdish region plummeting.

Nuri al-Maliki may have trumpeted Iraq last week as the top destination for investment in the region, but experts warn that myriad problems keep it from being a good choice for all but the most adventurous.

Nuri al-Maliki may have trumpeted Iraq last week as the top destination for investment in the region, but experts warn that myriad problems keep it from being a good choice for all but the most adventurous.

Iraq will renegotiate a massive weapons deal with Russia, a spokesman said on Monday, after Baghdad cancelled a $4.2 billion agreement that would have made Moscow Iraq's biggest supplier after the US.

Iraqi authorities executed 10 men on Sunday, a spokesman said, bringing to 129 the number of people put to death this year, defying international calls for a halt to Baghdad's use of capital punishment.

A car bomb in the centre of a predominantly Shiite city south of the Iraqi capital killed four people and wounded 11 others on Thursday, officials said.

A Baghdad court sentenced vice president Tareq al-Hashemi, one of Iraq's top Sunni officials, to a fourth death sentence in absentia on Sunday over a foiled car bombing targeting Shiite pilgrims.

Iraq's vice president Tareq al-Hashemi, a critic of premier Nuri al-Maliki and one of the country's top Sunni officials, was handed a second death sentence in absentia on Thursday.

Tehran on Tuesday asked Iraq not to stop and search its Syria-bound aircraft despite US pressure to do so, after Baghdad inspected Iranian planes twice this month.