US to lower flag to end Iraq war

• The ceremony was attended by the US Defence

The American flag has been lowered in Baghdad bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.

The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the operation had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.

The symbolic ceremony officially "cases" (retires) the flag of US forces in Iraq according to army tradition.

Most of the 5,500 remaining soldiers have now left Iraq, with security in the hands of the Iraqi authorities.

President Barack Obama, who came to office pledging to bring troops home, said on Wednesday that the US left behind a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq".

Some 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died in the war.

It has cost the US some $1tr.

Republicans have criticised the pullout citing concerns over Iraq's stability, but most Americans support the move.

In a speech to troops just returned from Iraq in North Carolina on Wednesday, Mr Obama hailed the "extraordinary achievement" of the military and said they were leaving with "heads held high".

15 December 2011 Last updated at 09:27 GMT BBC NEWS

Russia election: Putin accepts 'lawful' protests

Mr Putin's TV interview is an annual fixture

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said protests over alleged fraud in parliamentary elections are acceptable if demonstrators stay within the law. He said he would ask for web cameras to be installed at all polling stations in time for the March presidential election as a precaution against fraud. But he insisted the results reflected the balance of political forces. Mr Putin, who is standing for president himself, was speaking in an annual televised live chat with the nation.

"The fact that people express their opinion... is an absolutely normal thing as long, of course, as everybody acts within the framework of the law," he said, after protests on Saturday which saw around 50,000 people turn out in Moscow alone."I saw on television mostly young, active people clearly expressing their positions - I am pleased to see this."

"If this is the result of the Putin regime I am quite happy and quite content with that. I don't see anything wrong with it," he added.Thursday is the deadline for would-be presidential candidates to declare their bid. Mr Putin, who served two terms as president from 2000 to 2008, was obliged under the Russian constitution to step aside after his second term but is now entitled to stand again.

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