Iraq Gives Added Payment To Mixed Sunni-Shiite Couples Marrying

In Iraq, the country's vice-president, Tariq al-Hashemi, is trying to heal rifts between Shiites and Sunnis by encouraging intermarriage between the two groups. Monday's USA Today says that Hashemi is offering a government gift of $2000 to each mixed couple that marries. About a dozen of these couples will take part in a eremony and celebration on Friday, funded by the government. The mixed couples will receive their $2000 along with government funded wedding clothes and hotel rooms. Some 375 couples from the same sect will also marry in the subsidized group ceremony. They will receive a $750 gift from the government.