19 killed in Iraq as deadly car blasts target government, police in western city. A spate of car bombings killed 19 people Sunday in Iraq's western Anbar province, once a hotbed of insurgency that later become a showcase for restoring peace.

Iraqi parliament approves long-delayed election law, paving way for national vote. Iraq's parliament ended weeks of debate Sunday and passed a long-delayed law paving the way for the planned January election to go forward, sidestepping a crisis that could have delayed the U.S. troop withdrawal.

Al-Qaida emerges as chief suspect in wave of bombings, but Saddam's Baath link also cited. Al-Qaida in Iraq is the most likely suspect behind massive truck bombings targeting major government institutions in Baghdad.

Analysis: Iraq's al-Maliki must work harder to secure premier's job after elections. Abandoned by his fellow Shiites, Iraq's prime minister must turn to new allies and work twice as hard to form a broad-based alliance if he is to keep his job after January's parliamentary elections.

Analysis: Al-Maliki's quarrel with Syria over Baghdad bombings backfires on Iraqi premier. Iraq's prime minister is feeling a backlash over a bitter fight he picked with Syria, which he accuses of harboring Saddam Hussein loyalists suspected in deadly bombings in Baghdad. Critics say he just wants to divert attention from his own government's security failures.

Iran blasts Germany over Muslim woman's death but keeps quiet over China crackdown on Muslims. Iran has reacted with outrage over the stabbing death of an Egyptian woman in a German courthouse, calling it a sign of racism against Muslims, yet has said little about China's crackdown on Uighur Muslims ? a silence some leading Iranian clerics have criticized.

Iraq's public rebuff of Biden part political posturing, part reflection of waning US influence. Iraq's public rebuff of a U.S. offer of help with national reconciliation efforts may in part be political posturing. It also points to the dilemma facing the prime minister ? he needs U.S. help and must garner support from Iraqis fed up with the American presence.

Iraq's top Shiite clerics are silent on political struggles next door in Iran. There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.

Turmoil at home could distract Iran from expanding regional muscle. Iran has had an impressive run for the past decade ? expanding its regional muscle through proxy militias, its expanding missile capabilities and its big brother role with Iraq's Shiites after the toppling of arch-foe Saddam Hussein.

Power struggle among Iran's clerics bursts into the open as ayatollah's relatives are arrested. A backstage struggle among Iran's ruling clerics burst into the open Sunday when the government said it had arrested the daughter and other relatives of an ayatollah who is one of the country's most powerful men.