Sistani's office targeted
(Al-Mada) Police in Najaf confirmed on May 9 that they found a roadside bomb just 200 metres from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani office. Captain Hadi Najem of the Najaf police said the device contained four kilograms of TNT and a number of grenades, all placed in a case filled with petrol and left in a narrow street in the al-Buraq area. Bomb disposal experts succeeded in defusing the device.
(Al-Mada is issued daily by Al-Mada Institute for Media, Culture and Arts.)

Islamic party denounces violence
(Al-Taakhi) The Iraqi Islamic Party headed by Muhsin Abdul Hameed has said it regards all acts of violence aimed at Iraqis as crimes of the utmost gravity. The party, which boycotted the January elections, has denounced all kinds of violence, regardless of whether the targets are Sunni, Shia, police, or National Guardsmen. The party called for dialogue instead of violence. It added that the Iraqi security forces have no right to use violence against the people, either.
(Al-Taakhi is issued daily by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.)

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Constitutional team shapes up
(Al-Adala) The National Assembly has formed a 55-member committee to draft the new constitution. The body includes 28 members from the United Iraqi Alliance, 15 from the Kurdistan Alliance, eight from the Iraqi List, and four members of other blocs, will meet on May 15 to discuss the mechanism for writing the constitution and how to solicit input from experts, civil society organisations and especially the Sunni community which largely boycotted the elections and as a result is underrepresented in parliament. The committee is supposed to finish the drafting work within three months, and the document will go to referendum in the autumn.
(Al-Adala is issued daily by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.)

All school-leavers to sit final exam
(Al-Sabah) Education minister Abdul Falah Hassan has announced that all pupils will be allowed to sit this year's school-leaving exam, the baccalaureate, regardless of their marks to date. The decision reflects an awareness of the difficult environment in which school studies are taking place, and is intended to let school leavers move ahead rather than having to make up for lost time.
(Al-Sabah is an independent publicly owned daily.)

Food scandal continues
(Al-Mashriq) More shipments of foodstuffs at the trade ministry's warehouses have been found to be unfit for human consumption. A source at the biggest food warehouse said the newly-imported items such as tea contained iron filings - the same material previously found in flour imported from Australia, which resulted in a major corruption scandal. The source said warehouse managers had refused to approve the latest tainted shipments after laboratory testing.
(Al-Mashriq is published daily by Al-Mashriq Institution for Media and Cultural Investments.)

New jobs for information ministry staff
(Addustour) A source at the media office of the ministry of culture says steps are being taken to find new government jobs for thousands of people from the now abolished ministry of information. The culture minister has instructed his representative on a joint government committee dealing with the matter to press for speedier action to assist the redundant staff and address their problems.
(Addustour is an independent daily published by former journalist Basim al-Sheikh.)

People with HIV to get benefit payment
(Al-Bayan) The health ministry has announced a government decision to issue 200 US dollars a month to people with HIV. A source at the ministry said people who were infected by imported blood will receive the sum until the foreign company which supplied it pays compensation.
(Al-Bayan is issued four times a week by the Islamic Dawa Party.)