The formal transfer of sovereignty from the US to the interim Iraqi Government was expected yesterday but for security reasons was abruptly moved up to 10.26am Baghdad time (4.26pm AEST) on Monday.

According to overseas reports about 30 journalists witnessed the brief ceremony, including Iraqi reporters, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Peter Jennings from US network ABC and a Reuters cameraman, who provided pool footage of the historic moment in which US administrator Paul Bremer handed a blue folder of legal documents to Iraqi Supreme Court head Midhat al-Mahmoud. Regional channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya say they were not invited.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10002999%255E7582,00.html