Baghdad

Iraq unveiled on Sunday a 2,800-year-old stone tablet returned by Italy, as the war-ravaged country works to recover from abroad antiquities looted from its territory.

The tablet, whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet, bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled the region of Nimrod, in present-day northern Iraq, from 858 to 823 BC.

Iraqi telecommunications worker Youssef Ahmed is married with a five-year-old son, but lives with his parents because he is unable to afford his own home amid soaring property prices.

"Even if your income increases, it will never be up to the exorbitant prices of houses or land", said 29-year-old Ahmed, who earns a "comfortable" monthly salary of $1,000, double the national average.

A British man arrested at Baghdad airport in late March in possession of pottery fragments that are alleged to be historical artifacts is being held in pre-trial detention, his family said on May 1.

Iraqi artist Wijdan al-Majed is transforming Baghdad's concrete jungle into a color-filled city with murals depicting well-known figures from the war-scarred country and abroad.

Perched on a scaffold at a busy intersection, the 49-year-old artist and instructor at the Baghdad College of Fine Arts is adding final touches to a mural dedicated to celebrated Iraqi poet Muzzafar al-Nawab.

Verdant landscapes, stylized portraits of peasant women, curved sculptures, an exhibition in Baghdad is allowing art aficionados to rediscover the pioneers of contemporary Iraqi art.

Around 100 items are on display in the capital, returned and restored nearly two decades after they were looted.

Ljubljana – Matej Kavčič, a reporter for the small independent radio station Radio Student, was arrested in Iraq on Sunday, most likely in Baghdad, the newspaper Večer reports on its website. According to the available information, he was arrested by the army, which disputes his status of reporter.

Art exhibitions, book fairs on the Tigris and Godot in Baghdad - after decades of conflict and strife, the Iraqi capital is experiencing an artistic renaissance.

"People need art, they want to develop their artistic taste - it's an escape route," said Noor Alaa al-Din, director of art space The Gallery.

"We are like any country, we have the right to art to entertain us."

The Arab world's favorite troubadour Ilham al-Madfai, who last year had to perform in an empty Roman amphitheater and scrub concert dates across Europe and the Gulf, can't wait to get back on stage.

A rare twin suicide bombing killed at least 20 people on a bustling commercial street in the heart of Baghdad on Jan. 21, the ministry said, rupturing months of relative calm.

At least six Iraqis including two security personnel were killed and more than 60 injured in clashes between Iraqi security forces and protesters in the capital Baghdad, security and medical sources said on Jan. 20.