Summary
Iraq began three days of national mourning Thursday for more than 100 people killed during recent protests, while the government was expected to present a reshuffle to parliament in response to the political crisis.
While social media sites in Iraq remained inaccessible -- except intermittently via virtual private network (VPN) applications -- more images emerged of the violence over the past week in which mainly protesters died from live fire.
Since protests and violence calmed Tuesday, the government has proposed reforms to lower youth unemployment, currently at 25 percent, while the labour ministry proposed an online job register.
Iraqi authorities have announced that "exhaustive probes" will be launched into the deadly violence during protests that left more than 100 dead and over 6,000 wounded.
Amnesty International -- which said it interviewed eight activists and journalists who described seeing protesters killed by snipers -- urged authorities to properly investigate the "use of excessive and deadly force".
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