A cease-fire deal between Mr. Sadr's representatives in the Iraqi government and members of the leading Shiite bloc aims to end weeks of fierce battles in Sadr City.
Officials warned that the death toll, raised now to 19,500, could reach as high as 50,000, as dozens of villages remained cut off from rescuers Thursday.
AP - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.
AP - Republican presidential contender John McCain on Thursday listed a series of prospective first-term accomplishments, including winning the war in Iraq, although he said he was not backtracking on his criticism of Democrats for favoring immediate troop withdrawals.
AP - President Bush feted Israel on Thursday in honor of the 60th anniversary of its founding and predicted that its 120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today's oppression, restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements.
The California Supreme Court today struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Several gay and lesbian couples, along with the city of San Francisco and gay rights groups, sued to overturn state laws allowing only marriages between a man and a woman.