AP - The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

AP - As of Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at least 4,036 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,291 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI was expected Wednesday to raise sensitive issues such as the Iraq war and Hispanic immigration when he meets with President George W. Bush on the second day of a US visit that began under the cloud of a clergy sex scandal.

AP - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden says Republican Sen. John McCain would continue President Bush's practice of pursuing the war in Iraq at the expense of other urgent global issues.

AP - DIPLOMATIC WARNING: The State Department said it will soon be identifying U.S. diplomats qualified to serve in Iraq and they could be forced to work there if they don't volunteer, according to a cable sent to all diplomatic missions.

McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD— A spate of explosions across Iraq killed at least 60 people Tuesday and resurrected fears that the security gains that the U.S. has been touting are now unraveling.

Time.com - The Shi'ite militia leader voices new demands and strengthens his hand, as insurgents send out car bombs north and west of Baghdad

AP - McCain calls for summer-long suspension of gas tax, lower tax rates ... Obama dismisses suggestion Clinton's criticism 'bordered on uppity' ... Poll: Clinton ahead 6 points in Pa. one week before primary ... Clinton's first 100 days: Start withdrawing troops from Iraq, sign legislation Bush vetoed ... The trailing Democrat in the presidential race should drop out by June 3, Frank says

AP - A military hearing began Tuesday for a civilian contractor charged with aggravated assault while working as an Army translator in Iraq — the first such military prosecution since the Vietnam War.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON— While America's attention remains focused on Iraq, violence is escalating in Afghanistan, worrying senior U.S. defense officials and commanders who're struggling to find some 7,000 more American and European troops to combat resurgent Taliban and al Qaida forces.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday defended the commitment of the nation's diplomats, despite recent resistance by many foreign services officers to a proposal to require tours in Iraq.

AP - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton is sketching an agenda for her first 100 days in office that includes the beginning of a troop withdrawal from Iraq and signing legislation that President Bush vetoed.

Reuters - The U.S. military held a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday for an interpreter accused of a stabbing in Iraq, the first attempt to apply military law to civilian contractors working for U.S. forces in Iraq.

AP - Differences have emerged between the U.S. and Iraq on how to deal with Shiite militant Muqtada al-Sadr, with the Americans appearing more willing than the Shiite-led government to concede a legitimate political role to the anti-U.S. cleric.

AP - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden says Republican Sen. John McCain would continue President Bush's practice of pursuing the war in Iraq at the expense of other urgent global issues.

AFP - US President George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday will have "frank and open" talks on thorny issues like Iraq, but their shared values trump any disagreements, the White House said.

AFP - The new, state-of-the-art US embassy complex in Iraq has been cleared for occupancy, with a moving day to the 700-million dollar office and housing compound set for late May or early June, officials in Washington said.

Reuters - Car bombs on crowded streets killed more than 50 people in Sunni Arab areas of Iraq on Tuesday, a sudden spasm of violence in regions which had been comparatively quiet while battles raged in the Shi'ite south.

AP - Bombings blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq tore through market areas in Baghdad and outside the capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and shattering weeks of relative calm in Sunni-dominated areas.

AFP - A spate of bombings across Iraq which the US military blamed on Al-Qaeda and a fresh surge of fighting between Shiite militiamen and US forces in Baghdad killed at least 62 people on Tuesday.