Summary: A female suicide bomber killed at least 38 and wounded 72 in an attack on pilgrims entering the revered Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, northwestern Baghdad, on January 4, 2009. … Security incidents in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2009, as reported by Reuters. … January 2008 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

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Summary: Tensions are mounting between Sunni Arabs and Kurds in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where political violence is increasing ahead of provincial elections. … A suicide bomber blew himself up at a luncheon gathering at a tribal leader’s home, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens.

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Summary: South African anti-apartheid icon Helen Suzman, one of the first white lawmakers to fight against the injustices of racial rule, died on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the age of 91.

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Summary: U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, while the war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shift their focus to a new front with the West. The combined total of at least 465 U.S. deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008 is the lowest combined total for both wars since 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

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Summary: As Minnesota 6th Congressional District constituents ring in the New Year, they can look back on the historic election year of 2008 with some measure of pride in the knowledge that their representative in Congress made a strong showing (of sorts) in several “Year in Review” lists. That’s no easy feat, considering the U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members, each vying for attention.

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Minnesota U.S. Senate Recount — Live Coverage Live Streaming Video of Coleman-Franken Recount from TheUpTake

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Summary: More than 2 million Iraqis have fled the kidnappings, car bombings, and killings that have racked their homeland since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The United States has admitted more than 16,000 Iraqi refugees in the past two years and expects to more than double that number by the end of 2009. A coalition of advocates, including Refugees International, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, is calling on the United States to nearly triple the money it spends on the displaced Iraqis while allowing the entry of as many as 105,000 in 2009 — a sevenfold increase over current admissions.

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Summary: Between 8,300 and 9,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2008, bringing the total number of civilian deaths since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to at least 98,400, according to Iraq Body Count.

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Summary: The Taliban has long operated its own shadow government in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, but its power is now spreading north to the doorstep of Kabul. More than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, the Islamic militia is attempting to reconstitute the government by which it ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s. … Grim statistic: 2008 has been the deadliest year yet for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan. … At least 22 people were killed and 50 wounded after a bomb tore through a busy square in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad.

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Summary: Pat Forte’s achievements as Sartell hockey coach while battling life-threatening thymic carcinoid. … A tribute to Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, president emeritus of Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minn.

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