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AFP - Iraq's capital throbs to the hum of thousands of polluting generators, but now the authorities in Baghdad want to regulate the private power network that has developed amid the ruins of the public grid.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended her administration's strategy in Iraq on Sunday and said she had an "open" relationship with Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki following claims Washington had spied on him.

AFP - US General David Petraeus, the man credited with curbing sectarian violence in Iraq, will hand the command of US-led forces in Iraq to General Raymond Odierno on September 16, his spokesman said Sunday.

A kidney specialist who fled Iraq's bombings, kidnappings and sectarian killings 20 months ago has reported back to work at his Baghdad hospital - one of some 800 doctors who have returned over the summer.

AP - Iraqi lawmakers end their summer break this week facing urgent tasks of approving a new election law and signing off on a still-unfinished security pact with the U.S. ? key steps in laying the foundation for a lasting peace.

A series of roadside bombs wounded at least 14 people Sunday in eastern Baghdad, police said, in a sign of the ongoing security threats despite a sharp reduction of violence in the Iraqi capital.