Iraq's parliamentary speaker has summoned lawmakers to a special meeting of the National Assembly on Monday, the deadline for completing a draft constitution. Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators are racing to finish the draft, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told U.S. television networks on Sunday that he is optimistic the deadline will be met.
Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities found the bodies of 30 people, including two women, in a mass grave 20 kilometers south of Baghdad. Iraqi police have arrested at least 13 people and killed one suspect in connection with the find. Separately, U.S. officials say five American soldiers have been killed by roadside-bomb explosions since late Friday, in Baghdad, Tuz, and at Rutbah, in far western Iraq.