Buses Bring Hundreds of Iraqis Home

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi refugees boarded buses for home on Tuesday in the first convoy from an Iraqi-funded effort to speed the return of families that fled the country's violence and insecurity.

Many Iraqis have headed back on own their own from Syria and elsewhere as extremist attacks have fallen sharply in Baghdad and other areas. But now the Iraqi government is hoping to accelerate the flow — and draw more attention to the recent drop in violence — by offering to pay for trips home.