Iraq lifts curfew after week of violence
Authorities lifted an extended curfew in Baghdad on Monday as the Iraqi capital returned to relative normality after a week of sectarian violence that claimed more than 200 lives. Residents were moving freely, with cars back on the roads under the direction of traffic police and shops opened for business. A three-day curfew, over and above the usual overnight ban on movement, largely dampened violence that erupted after a Shi’ite shrine was destroyed in a bombing that sparked a wave of tit-for-tat killings and led the defense minister to warn of the danger of “endless civil war”. Full Story