Baghdad faces "catastrophic" pollution with AQI hitting 380, caused by waste burning at Rashid Camp, sparking health warnings and government action.

Baghdad’s air quality plunged to the hazardous purple level as toxic smoke from illegal factories and waste burning spread across the capital, reducing visibility and raising serious health concerns.

In a day of advances and losses, U.S. forces fought to within sight of the Baghdad skyline 20 miles away Wednesday, seizing key bridges and shattering two divisions of the vaunted Republican Guard as ...