KHAMENEI REJECTS U.S. HAND…ROUHANI WARNS GULF BAGHDAD, June 22, (Agencies): Sunni militants advanced through west Iraq after seizing a strategic Syria border crossing, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called Sunday for the country’s leaders to rise above sectarianism. The latest assaults saw the security forces making “tactical” withdrawals …

Statues of poets removed BAGHDAD, June 22, (AFP): In the two weeks since it was seized by Sunni militants, some residents of the northern Iraq city of Mosul feel the clock has been turned back hundreds of years. The militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant …

‘Week may decide fate of Iraq’ BAGHDAD, June 23, (Agencies): The fate of Iraq may be decided over the next week, the top US diplomat said Monday, and largely depends on whether its leaders keep their commitment to meet looming deadlines to seat a new government before a Sunni insurgency …