Alice Fordham

New Mexico is short 1,000 teachers. National Guard volunteers now serve as substitute teachers.

Landmines make the northern part of the Iraq-Iran border forbidding for humans, but they also seem to have created space for what's thought to be a growing population of rare leopards.

In the marshes of southern Iraq, water buffalos provide a livelihood for people outside the reach of many of the country's problems. There are new efforts intended to boost local agriculture.

Protests against government corruption and dysfunction in the troubled south of Iraq have brought a threatening reaction from militias and shadowy groups with entrenched interests.

Women from Iraq's Yazidi minority get together to perform centuries-old sacred songs. They've survived captivity by ISIS and loved ones' deaths. "They are trying to heal," says a Yazidi politician.

Pope Francis is back at the Vatican after a historic trip to Iraq, the home of a dwindling but determined Christian community.

Pope Francis continues his trip to Iraq with a mass in a stadium in Erbil, home to many Christians displaced from other areas in the wake of ISIS.

The pope spent the third day of his visit in the north of the country, where the Christian population is dwindling. He also prayed for the ethnic minority Yazidis, who were brutally targeted by ISIS.

On the second day of a landmark trip to Iraq, Pope Francis traveled to the the city of Najaf to meet Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, before visiting what is believed to be the birthplace of Abraham.

The pontiff arrived at Baghdad International Airport where he was greeted by the prime minister. During his four-day visit, Francis will focus on Iraq's ancient but dwindling Christian community.

The Pentagon said the unnamed U.S. national was taking shelter and suffered a "cardiac episode," dying shortly thereafter. The attack followed U.S. strikes against Iran-backed militants last week.

The U.S. launched an air attack in Syria Thursday. Pentagon officials say they targeted facilities used by Iranian-backed militias responsible for a deadly rocket attack on a U.S. base in Iraq.

Domestic tourism has been strong in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, but sites in more impoverished, insecure areas tend to be visited less. A few Iraqi tourism companies are trying to change that.

Iraq's historic site of Babylon is famous worldwide, but some Iraqis are just getting to know it again — thanks to tours that introduce them to the past.

Many Iraqis — Christian and Muslim — say they are excited about the first papal visit to the country, raising hopes of religious tolerance in the face of extremist violence.

A rocket attack on a U.S. base in Iraq highlights the difficult security situation in the country, even as NATO announces it will increase its presence. We examine what's needed to keep Iraq secure.

Pope Francis plans to travel the original home of the patriarch Abraham in the Iraqi desert. His tour will also take him to places where there are almost no Christians — most everyone is Muslim.

Local media reported rockets fell in several areas in and around the city, and multiple people were being treated for injuries in hospital. The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear.

"Iraq's economic situation can probably best be described as being dire," says an International Energy Agency expert. Government revenues have plummeted and its currency has been devalued.

In Iraq, a huge share of the country relies on government salaries. But the government relies on oil revenues which have been falling. The purchasing power of average Iraqis has dropped.