NPR People: Quil Lawrence

Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hoping for a repeat of last January's provincial elections — that's when Iraqi voters rejected overtly religious parties and turned to his more secular slate. Luckily for him, those religious parties don't seem to have gotten the message. One of the largest Shiite religious parties is spending millions on an Iranian-style mausoleum to its fallen leaders. It's by far the biggest construction in the city of Najaf, but residents say they'd rather see the money spent on services.

In the six years since the U.S. invasion, Iraq's oil production has hardly matched the level under Saddam Hussein. Iraq's oil minister had been harshly criticized, but this week the world's largest oil companies signed multi-billion dollar deals to redevelop Iraq's oil fields. What's most impressive is that the oil minister got the companies to accept Iraq's conditions and terms.

Stalled for 30 years by invasion, war and rebellions, the flow of corpses from outside Iraq to the Shiite holy cemetery in Najaf has resumed. But plenty of risk remains as traffickers share the country's borders with drug smugglers and other criminals — a price they're willing to pay for the hefty compensation.

A group of Iranian dissidents living in Iraq since the 1980s poses a dilemma for the U.S. government. The Mujahedeen-e Khalq organization was given U.S. military protection in 2003 after the American-led invasion of Iraq, but now the Iraqi government wants it out. The trouble is that the Iranians don't want to leave.

Fewer than 500 cases of H1N1 have been reported in Iraq, but it's not uncommon to see schoolchildren walking home wearing surgical masks. Fear of the virus has caused a rash of school closures, and is even preventing some Iraqis from making this year's pilgrimage to Mecca.

The deadlock over Iraq's election law is threatening to become a full-blown crisis. Without a deal by this weekend, Iraq will run out of time to organize an election before the government's term expires. A long delay might even trip up the pace of American troop withdrawal.

A double car bombing in Baghdad Sunday was the worst to hit the Iraqi capital in two years. Scores of people were killed. The violence is most likely political in nature, and there could be more incidents to come because Iraq's political season is just beginning.

At issue in the dispute is whether voters will choose a political party or individual candidates. The party option used four years ago simplified the process and protected individuals from violence, but most Iraqis agree it's better to cast a vote for a candidate. Parliament must pass an election law if polls are to take place in January.

Students in Iraq will open new textbooks this school year that reflect the enormous changes the country has been through and include historical events that were once forbidden topics. Many of the fawning references to the former dictator have also been excised.

In Iraq, the apparently coordinated explosions that rocked the capital of Anbar province also destroyed what had been a growing sense of security.

The U.S. military pacified some of the most violent areas of Iraq in part with money, paying tribal militias to turn back al-Qaida. Thanks to the militias, western cities have been relatively calm — until Sunday, when a triple car bombing struck Ramadi.

In upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition faces stiff competition from an alliance of Shiite religious parties with backing from Iran. Some Iraqis are starting to view the election as a referendum on how secular Iraq's next government will be.

The U.S. military is pushing a plan to get Arabs and Kurds to cooperate in the country's north. Many of Iraq's other minorities live in the most hotly contested seam between the Kurdish region and the city of Mosul. Adding to their woes, al-Qaida is also targeting the area.

The U.S. commander in Iraq has proposed joint patrols in the country's north. Baghdad initially rejected the idea. U.S. military leaders say such measures are already working, but some Iraqi politicians fear they might help Kurds keep control over towns they have occupied since 2003.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi was released from prison Tuesday. The Iraqi journalist, who served only nine months of a three-year sentence, was imprisoned for hurling his shoes at then-President Bush at a news conference last December.