Iraq

(NYTimes) The US has been installing those giant concrete barriers in Sadr City to try and create a safe area to stop mortar fire on the Green Zone. "During a tour of several streets in the Mahdi-controlled area on Friday, it was clear that concrete blast walls erected elsewhere in Sadr City had been moved or knocked down."

(AP) The fighting is active in Sadr City.

(Reuters) "Iraqi troops cordoned off the Basra office of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's followers on Friday and prevented them holding prayers in a move that seems sure to inflame tensions."

(Reuters) "A group of al Qaeda bombers has slipped into Baghdad to carry out a wave of car bombs and suicide attacks, the U.S. military said on Friday."

(Independent) An article about the intra-Sunni fighting between the pro-US militias and insurgents.

Observation: Although the true cross sectarian killing has diminished, the intra-sectarian violence has risen appreciably, Sunni on Sunni, Shia on Shia. (Is that progress or do they just go back to sectarian war once these are settled out?)