"Two British soldiers were missing Monday after vehicles they were traveling in were attacked in southern Iraq. The Ministry of Defense said the attack took place on Sunday, but declined to give details of which unit the soldiers belonged to or where the attack happened," reported the AP news agency.
"The gray-haired American has walked an unexpected path from the despair of imprisonment by Muslim fundamentalists, through decades of Christian peace activism, and now to the gates of Iraq, where he hopes to bear witness in Baghdad, a bomb-shattered city whose defenders, some fear, may take Westerners hostage," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush demanded Sunday that any American troops held captive in Iraq be treated humanely. He said he was pleased with the progress of the war. "Saddam Hussein is losing control of his country," reported the AP news agency.
"U.S. forces surged to within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of Baghdad on Sunday, but their battlefield success was tempered by pictures shown on Arab television of bodies in U.S. uniforms lying in a makeshift Iraqi morgue and of American prisoners being interviewed," reported the AP news agency.
"The U.S.-led coalition had other bad news - two British fliers were killed when their plane was accidentally shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile, and a U.S. soldier was arrested for throwing grenades into the tents of fellow American troops at a camp in Kuwait, killing one soldier and wounding 15," reported the AP news agency.
"Arab television on Sunday aired Iraqi footage of purported dead Americans, some sprawled in a room, and interviews with five, seemingly tense U.S. prisoners. U.S. officials confirmed that about 10 soldiers had been killed up to 12 soldiers were missing after a double ambush near the southern city of An Nasiriyah," reported the AP news agency.
"US troops pushed towards Baghdad yesterday but ran into stubborn resistance in several places as bombs and missiles pummelled the Iraqi capital for a fourth day. Iraq said 77 civilians were killed in fighting at its second city of Basra in the far south, mostly victims of cluster bombs, and reported deadly air raids on Tikrit, President Saddam Hussein’s hometown," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraqi television showed film yesterday of at least four bodies, said to be US soldiers, and five prisoners who said they were Americans. Two of the prisoners, including a woman, appeared to be wounded. One was lying on the floor on a rug. They were the first US prisoners known to have been taken by Iraq. The prisoners were questioned on air and gave their names, military identification numbers and home towns," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US commanders say their invasion of Iraq is going according to plan, but have met surprisingly tough resistance in some areas. US and Iraqi forces battled in the southern Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr yesterday, with tanks and aircraft attacking targets where at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards were reported to be dug in," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Six houses demolished and 12 damaged in air raids. When Shafa Hussein returned from taking her sick son to a hospital here, she found her home in ruins, destroyed in US-British air strikes. This is real terrorism. Innocent people are sitting in their homes and bombs fall on their heads... isn't this terrorism?, said Hulayel al-Jekhafi, whose house was damaged in the attack on the Qadissiya neighbourhood," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A spokesman for the US military denied reports yesterday that members of US or British aircrews had been shot down over Baghdad. A spokesman for the US military denied reports yesterday that members of US or British aircrews had been shot down over Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"An Israeli missile discovered in Baghdad after four days of US-British bombardments was a decoy launched by an American aircraft to draw anti-aircraft fire. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri used the find to allege in Cairo Sunday that Israel was taking part in the four-day-old war to topple President Saddam Hussein," reported the AFP news service.
"Fires burning at oil wells in southern Iraq could be brought under control and capped in 30-45 days, an expert team brought in to fight the blazes said on Saturday. US and British officials were worried Iraqi forces might try to sabotage the country's oil infrastructure after US and British forces invaded the country on Thursday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Patriot missile battery shot down a British Royal Air Force fighter aircraft near the Iraq-Kuwait border yesterday," reported the AP news agency.
"Every military conflict has its lingo and this Iraqi war is no different, with phrases and acronyms such as MOPP, embedded, A-day, S-Day and other alphabet days. This special Iraq lingo extends to buzzwords used by the US administration, starting with the US president's reference to Iraq as being part of the axis of evil along with Iran and North Korea, to labelling allies in the military campaign as belonging to a coalition of the willing," reported the Reuters news agency.
"One US soldier was killed and 12 were wounded in a grenade attack at a tented command centre in Kuwait yesterday, and the military said one of their own comrades had been held as a suspect," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Jordan became the first Arab state to expel Iraqi diplomats by ordering five diplomats out of the country. Asked if Jordan would heed such a request, the official said Jordan is a sovereign nation and that its decisions were made independently without listening to other countries," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel maintained a high state of alert yesterday despite the quick advance of coalition troops in Iraq. Major General Amos Gilad, the national spokesman for the Iraq war, called on Israelis to follow the instructions issued by the army and continue carrying their gas mask kits with them. He said the danger from Iraq had not yet passed and it was possible that when its leaders were pushed against the wall they would fire a missile, or several, at Israel. Most people were nevertheless seen in the streets yesterday morning without their protective kits," reported the dpa news agency.
"The Pentagon said on Saturday that secret discussions were underway with members of the Iraqi leadership and there was still time for them to do the right thing. Pentagon spokesman Victoria Clarke would not elaborate on the contacts except to say that the US has been holding a variety of conversations and discussions in a variety of ways with Iraqi leaders," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush will seek an additional US$80bil for the war against Iraq, a figure that has been kept under wraps for weeks, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Quoting administration officials, the Post said Bush plans to tell congressional leaders today that the funds will be needed for combat and the first months of reconstruction, foreign aid, homeland security and humanitarian relief," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States on Saturday renewed its existing terrorism-related warning for US citizens to avoid travel to Indonesia and consider leaving if already there due to possible retaliatory attacks for the war in Iraq. The State Department, echoing concerns first raised by the US and British embassies in Jakarta on Thursday and Friday, said the conflict in Iraq would likely inflame anger in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation," reported the AFP news service.
"Lunchtime conversation at a cafe off al-Saadoun Street in the heart of this capital was briefly interrupted by the sound of a massive explosion. Patrons gently shook their heads, then resumed their chat over black sweet tea and water pipes. Life must go on, Baghdadis say, bombs or no bombs. As they never tire of repeating, it's not like they've never been bombed before," reported the AP news agency.
"War-weary Chechens began voting yesterday on the future of their push for independence in a referendum the Kremlin promoted as a critical step towards peace. Officials expected a majority of Chechnya's 540,000 eligible voters to turn out and say yes to a constitution proclaiming the rebel region an integral part of the Russian Federation. In exchange, President Vladimir Putin has promised the territory wide autonomy and hefty payouts," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hollywood launched a another strike against the Iraqi war on Saturday during a politically charged ceremony that could serve as a prelude for even more fireworks at the Academy Awards today. In a star-studded luncheon at the Independent Spirit Awards, the arthouse movie industry's version of the Oscars, celebrities blasted US President George W. Bush and the American-led war against Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is too late for the United States to invoke international law in response to the Iraqi television footage showing four bodies said to be that of US soldiers and five prisoners who claim to be Americans. The Prime Minister said that since the United States had shown total disrespect for the United Nations, it had lost the right to bring up issues pertaining to matters of the international body," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The onus to stop the war on Iraq should rest with the United Nations and its secretary-general Kofi Annan, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"As the crucial battle for Baghdad shapes up, the loyalty of the elite Iraqi troops defending the capital will be crucial to both sides. Iraqi resistance also calls into question the effects of the US psychological warfare mounted over the last six months with the dropping of more than 25 million leaflets asking Iraqi military units and civilians not to fight. But their loyalty is complex, and therefore hard to access," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Arab nations on Monday called for an emergency Security Council meeting to demand an end to the U.S.-led aggression against Iraq and the withdrawal of all invading forces. The Arab Group was following up on a decision taken by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo earlier Monday calling on the United States and Britain to withdraw their troops from Iraq immediately and without condition," reported the AP news agency.
"Militia fighters and irregular Iraqi forces held off British forces outside Basra on Monday, amid heavy fire from mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and dogged efforts to prevent coalition troops from taking Iraq's second largest city. Days after it appeared that the battle had been won in Iraq's south, the shooting and the dying goes on," reported the AP news agency.
"Crude prices surged Monday on market fears that the war in Iraq might take longer than some had anticipated and because of a disruption of supplies from Nigeria. Stiffening resistance to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has undercut hopes for a brief war and an early rehabilitation of that country's oil industry. Iraq pumped 2.5 million barrels a day before fighting began and typically exported about four-fifths of that amount," reported the AP news agency.
"War euphoria wore off on Wall Street Monday as investors realized that Operation Iraqi Freedom might not be so quick after all. The Dow Jones industrials gave back more than 300 points, following its best week in two decades with its worst day of the year," reported the AP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair will visit President George W. Bush this week, giving the two allied leaders a chance to compare notes and plot strategy in the war with Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush is expected to ask Congress for $74.7 billion to pay for the war with Iraq, assuming a month of combat, and for strengthening counterterrorism efforts at home," reported the AP news agency.
"Despite the biggest weekly gains seen on Wall Street in 20 years, Asian stock markets mostly failed to play catch-up and instead ended broadly lower yesterday, jolted by news of reverses suffered by US-led forces and rising coalition casualties in Iraq. In contrast, crude oil and gold prices headed higher while the US dollar came under renewed pressure, as optimism about a swift coalition victory was dampened," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The American death toll since Sunday had risen to 16, while the number of wounded stood at 12 and 16 others were still missing. The toll of British dead and missing has now reached 18," reported the news Agencies.
"Syria said yesterday US and British aircraft bombed a bus carrying Syrian civilian workers returning home from Iraq, killing five and injuring an unspecified number in what it described as a criminal act," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US Air Force rescue helicopter has crashed while trying to reach two injured Afghan children needing emergency medical treatment, the US military said yesterday. The six people on board – all members of the air force – were killed," reported the AP news agency.
"Stubborn Iraqi resistance and sandstorms yesterday slowed the advance of US-led forces on Baghdad with both sides gearing for a major showdown at the Euphrates River city of Nasiriyah. The campaign to drive Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power also saw another setback in the air for coalition forces with the loss of an Apache attack helicopter, the star of the first Gulf war in 1991," reported the AFP news service
"US forces on Sunday found what they believe to be a huge chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 160km south of Baghdad," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Ankara's plans to send more troops into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq would provide stability there, apparently brushing aside US and other Western calls to stay out," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The soldier suspected of rolling three or four grenades into tents at a US army camp in Kuwait, killing a fellow soldier and wounding a dozen more, was a sergeant with an attitude problem," reported the AFP news service.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair told British troops in the Gulf on Sunday their campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was going to plan despite a third deadly air accident in as many days. The accident – US troops shot down a British Tornado fighter as it returned to base near the Kuwaiti border – underscored the perils of waging round-the-clock strikes on Iraq and spawned anger and bewilderment among British troops," reported the news Agencies.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hailed Iraqi military efforts to resist a US-led invasion to overthrow him yesterday and said the invaders had suffered heavy losses. Be patient, victory is coming, Saddam said in an address on state television, praising the valiant contribution of the Iraqi military in resisting a US and British invasion that began on Thursday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Muslim protesters in Indonesia shouted Hang George Bush and Bush is a vampire yesterday while in Australia, police and about 150 anti-war protesters clashed on the doorstep of the national parliament," reported the Reuters news agency
"New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday said the US-led attack on Iraq was not making any dent at all and stood by her decision to keep her country out of the conflict," reported the AFP news service.
"A New Mexico woman said she saw her son interviewed on Iraqi television as one of the US soldiers taken prisoner, and she begged President George W. Bush: Please do something for my son," reported the AP news agency.
"It was the day the war turned ugly for the allies fighting it, the leaders running it and anyone who saw the images at home. The pain of it all was made worse in some minds because the troubles seemed the result of unfair fighting or dangers well out of the norm even for warfare," reported the AP news agency.
"It'sthe real thing. Coke has lost its fizz in Thailand’s southern provinces as the Muslim minority continues to flex its economic muscles in protest against the US-led war on Iraq. Haad Thip Plc, the Thai bottler of Coca Cola closed its warehouse in Yala after sales plummeted to an all-time low, since the war broke out," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Four schools here were ordered shut for a week after 182 of their students were found to have family members who have contracted the deadly atypical pneumonia as many parents expressed fear of their children catching the disease while at school," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"A van caught carrying smuggled cigarette lighters crashed and exploded in northern Vietnam, killing seven people including three anti-smuggling police officers," reported the dpa news agency.
"Several American prewar assumptions - or at least hopes - have proved wrong in the war's early days. The overall result has been more uncertainty and risk as the battle for Baghdad nears. Iraqis have not rushed to cheer arriving troops, either because they remain fearful who will win, or simply because they do not welcome U.S. troops," reported the AP news agency.
"Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that Turkey plans to send forces up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) into northern Iraq to stop any flood of refugees but - in an apparent softening of his country's position - only in case of crisis. Washington fears that Turkish forces could end up clashing with local Iraqi Kurdish fighters or engaging in friendly fire with U.S. forces," reported the AP news agency.
"Hackers attacked the Web site of Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera on Tuesday, rendering it intermittently unavailable. The newly launched English-language page, which went live Monday and posted images of the corpses of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, was hardest hit in a bombardment of data packets known as a denial-of-service attack," reported the AP news agency.
"Allied forces scored gains in their advance on Baghdad yesterday, as they pushed across two bridges spanning the Euphrates River and reported taking full control of the strategic southern port of Umm Qasr. But their advance through the desert could now be slowed considerably by howling winds and swirling sand, which elsewhere in southern Iraq has already grounded helicopters and brought tanks and amphibious vehicles to a standstill," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraqi leaders, buoyed by the stiff resistance showed by their troops in parts of the south, vowed the Americans would find the going extremely tough in their final move on Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraq said on Tuesday it had killed at least eight invading troops, destroyed three armoured personnel carriers and downed three US helicopters in recent fighting against US and British forces," reported the news Agencies.
"Britain reported yesterday its second soldier killed in combat. Two other British soldiers have been missing since Sunday when their convoy came under fire, while 14 perished in two helicopter accidents and two airmen were killed when their Tornado bomber was hit by a US missile," reported the news Agencies.
"The US Defence Department identified seven US Marines killed in a firefight near the southern city of Nassiriya on Sunday, raising to 18 the total number of confirmed US casualties in the Iraq war," reported the news Agencies.
"The Iraq war is becoming a bloodier, less certain and possibly longer gamble than first advertised. The American and British leaders and generals running it say it is going exactly according to plan. The central strategy remains to decapitate the regime at Baghdad and let resistance in the rear wither away. There is no call to be fazed by pictures of skirmishes with irregular forces, they insist. But their assurances seem to be falling short. US forces smashed across the Euphrates river, leaving the city of Nassiriya to Iraqi units, to be cleaned up later," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Days into the US-led war, Iraq's civilians are still waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers. But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger against the invaders," reported the AFP news service.
"Thousands of Iraqi exiles have been returning home over the past week from Jordan, with many insisting they want to defend their country against US and British invaders. Jordanian records show that 5,284 Iraqis have crossed the desert border overland into Iraq since March 16," reported the AFP news service.
"UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the United Nations wants to resume humanitarian aid to Iraq as soon as possible and will work with whoever is in charge after the fighting. Iraq's Vice-President Taha Yasin Ramadan has blasted Annan's resolution. In a scathing letter sent to Annan on Friday, Ramadan accused the secretary-general of trying to take over the programme from the Iraqi government on orders from the United States and Britain," reported the AFP news service.
"Russia doesn't want the United Nations to have discretion to import any items it deemed necessary; France does not want any reference to the United Nations working in co-ordination with occupying authorities," reported the AFP news service.
"In a friendly fire incident, an American F-16 fired on a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Iraq after the battery's radar locked on the jet. The strike on Monday was the war's second involving Patriot batteries apparently failing to distinguish between friendly and hostile targets," reported the AP news agency.
"More Australians for the first time back war in Iraq than oppose it, according to a poll published yesterday which found support for Prime Minister John Howard back to the high levels he enjoyed last year. The Newspoll, published by The Australian newspaper, is the third in a few days to show support swinging behind Australian involvement in the war, but the first to show majority support for it," reported the AFP news service.
"US forces have successfully destroyed the Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter that went down during fighting south of Baghdad, officials with the US Central Command said yesterday. Sandstorms limited visibility earlier yesterday, initially making it difficult for US forces to confirm they had hit the helicopter, preventing Iraq from seizing any of the sophisticated targeting equipment and weapons aboard," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Russia is putting American troops at risk by selling anti-tank guided missiles, jamming devices and night-vision goggles to Iraq, the US administration said as President George W. Bush called Vladimir Putin to express US complaints. Bush raised his objections in a tense telephone call with Putin, who in turn charged that the United States was creating a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"Senior US government officials believe that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is alive because of his convincing Monday appearance on Iraqi television, the Washington Post reported yesterday. One official told the Post that the person on television looked so much like Saddam that the CIA did not have to run a voice analysis to confirm the identity," reported the AFP news service.
"Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan lashed out at Arab foreign ministers yesterday, saying their call for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US-led troops attacking Iraq did not go far enough. Condemnation is insufficient, Ramadan said, in the face of an attack he said targeted the whole Arab nation. Why do the Arabs not halt oil deliveries to the aggressor nations?," reported the AFP news service.
"Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal announced yesterday that the kingdom had proposed a peace plan to the United States and Iraq and was awaiting a response. US official downplayed the significance yesterday of the Saudi peace plan, signalling that the United States would likely reject the offer," reported the AFP news service.
"Germany will oppose any new world order based on the US unilaterally determining the international agenda. Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister, said a new world order in which the superpower decides on military strikes based only on its own national interest simply cannot work. In the end the same rules must apply for the big, middle-sized and small countries," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Americans may have tolerance for a long, bloody war in Iraq because of continuing anger over the deadly Sept 11 attacks but they may resist the high financial cost, political analysts said yesterday. With Iraqi resistance mounting to US forces over the weekend and the US death toll rising to at least 10 with 16 missing, opinion polls showed most Americans were bracing for a more protracted war with higher casualties," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US President George W. Bush on Tuesday formally sought an emergency down payment of nearly US$75bil for the war on Iraq and its aftermath as well as to help key allies in the war on terrorism," reported the AFP news service.
"Suddenly, the government of the United States has discovered the virtues of international law. It may be waging an illegal war against a sovereign state; it may be seeking to destroy every treaty which impedes its attempts to run the world, but when five of its captured soldiers were paraded in front of the Iraqi television cameras on Sunday, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, immediately complained that it is against the Geneva convention to show photographs of prisoners of war in a manner that is humiliating for them," reported the Gurdian.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Monday that the people of Chechnya had overwhelmingly voted for peace in a referendum, but many were cautious about long-term prospects for stability. Armed separatists, who seek talks with Russian authorities after battling Moscow for the better part of a decade, had denounced Sunday's referendum on a local constitution," reported the Reuters news agency.
"France has asked media groups to draft proposals for a French-language international television news service like CNN, BBC World and Al-Jazeera, officials said on Monday. French authorities have been weighing up such a venture for some time, seeing it as a means of spreading French influence, but want to press ahead even more since US and British troops went to war in Iraq against Paris' wishes," reported the Reuters news agency.
"North Korea yesterday claimed the United States may attack the communist state, sparking a second Iraqi crisis. Labelled by US President George W. Bush as a part of an axis of evil with Iraq and Iran, North Korea fears that it may be targeted after the US-led attack on Baghdad. It accuses Washington of inciting the dispute over its suspected nuclear weapons programmes to create an excuse for invasion," reported the AP news agency.
"Draped in the Stars and Stripes, metal caskets containing the bodies of six US Air Force officers killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan were sent home yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"U.S. ground forces in central Iraq are gathering fresh combat power, probing enemy defenses and allowing time for allied airpower to weaken Iraq's Republican Guard around Baghdad before launching a multi-pronged attack on the capital. Severe sandstorms, for one thing, are affecting the timetable," reported the AP news agency.
"The Senate delivered a wartime rebuff to President George W. Bush's domestic plans on Wednesday, approving a US$2.2 trillion budget that provides less than half the US$726 billion in tax cuts he wants to rally the listless U.S. economy," reported the AP news agency.
"About 1,000 U.S. paratroopers landed in northern Iraq on Wednesday, an American military spokesman said, the first significant deployment in the region where war planners seek to open a new front against Saddam Hussein's regime," reported the AP news agency.
"A 1,000-vehicle convoy of Iraq's Republican Guard headed south from Baghdad Wednesday toward central Iraq, site of the heaviest fighting of the war. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14 people," reported the AP news agency.
"Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed increasing concern Wednesday at the growing civilian casualty toll in the war against Iraq and reminded the United States that it is responsible for civilian welfare in areas that coalition forces control. The United Nations also moved on two fronts to prepare for a resumption of humanitarian aid to Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"As coalition forces make their way through Iraq, the number of casualties is growing, combat-related and otherwise, on both sides. At least 15 Iraqis were killed yesterday when missiles fired by US and British forces hit a residential area in Baghdad, which was under relentless attack from the skies," reported the news Agencies.
"As US and British forces bear down on Baghdad, international peace observers report that far from shock and awe Iraqi civilians feel bewildered and confused. People just ask why? They stress the point that they are not criminals and never wanted to attack the United States. It doesn't make logical sense to them. said Kathy Kelly, head of a group of activists who have been in Baghdad since October," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Iraq's Information Minister said yesterday that a US attack on the city of Nassiriya had wounded more than 500 civilians, and accused US forces of using cluster bombs against non-combatants in other areas. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf also denied that US and British forces were in full control of the southern port of Umm Qasr," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US marines pushing north towards Baghdad left a trail of death yesterday as they fought off sporadic Iraqi attacks along the way," reported the AFP news service.
"An Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim opposition group said yesterday there had been disturbances, but no uprising, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned yesterday that the US-led war in Iraq was doomed to fail. He said US-led attempts to overthrow the regime of a sovereign state were illegal and doomed to failure. This is not about democratising Iraq, since it's about the total destruction of the country he said, quoted by Interfax news agency," reported the AFP news service.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Washington yesterday to press the case for the United Nations to have a key role in the reconstruction of Iraq amid strong opposition from US hawks. Blair, according to commentators, will face a tough task as Bush is under intense pressure from his supporters, both inside and outside the administration, to sideline the UN," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The US soldier accused in a fatal grenade attack on his comrades in Kuwait was flown on Tuesday from a base north of Kuwait City to a military jail in Germany to await formal charges," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Rarely since the Vietnam War has the world seen such graphic images from the frontline, with footage from Iraq showing reporters hunkering down with troops in a hail of fire and crawling among soldiers as bombs fly. First met with suspicion, a campaign to embed journalists with US and British forces has produced Hollywood-style pictures that have taken even broadcasters by surprise, as reporters take up positions with troops on battlefields across Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"With journalists at the frontlines using we to refer to US troops advancing towards Baghdad, US television networks face accusations of twisted ethics as they wear their patriotism on their sleeve," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In a recent editorial, New York Times journalist Sheryl McCarthy wrote: The network news shows aren't covering the war, they're promoting it. Their message is that the United States is powerful and righteous, that we're prepared to give Saddam a good whipping, and that everybody who opposes us is a suspect," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Aid trickled into Iraq yesterday, with Kuwait sending food to this border port and trucks braving a dangerous trip across the west to get medicines to Baghdad," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Bombed-out cars on highways. Mothers weeping over dead children. A small boy seemingly asleep, the back of his head blown off. Evidence of civilian casualties is not hard to find in Iraq, but as fierce fighting rages in the south and Baghdad is battered by bombs, nobody can count them," reported the AP news agency.
"US officials say they are taking great pains to avoid killing civilians. Iraqi officials mock their assertions and are largely succeeding in convincing large parts of the world that the war is targeting innocents. Every day, most Arab television stations show footage from Iraqi hospitals, where men, women and children lie in agony from injuries attributed to US missiles," reported the AP news agency.
"Perhaps the greatest impact came from Qatar’s Al-Jazeera network, which showed an Iraqi boy, maybe 12 years old, his head half blown off and a tranquil expression frozen on his face. An Al-Jazeera anchor apologised for showing such disturbing pictures, but said: The world should know the truth," reported the AP news agency.
"Students in school uniforms clashed with police in riot gear during an anti-war protest in Australia's most populous city yesterday while demonstrators in the South Korean capital tried to barge into the heavily guarded US Embassy," reported the AP news agency.
"Former Beatle Paul McCartney added an unscheduled number to the first night of his European tour when a French audience of 15,000 struck up a spontaneous rendition of Give Peace a Chance by his late songwriting partner John Lennon," reported the AFP news service.
"Rocker Lenny Kravitz and Iraq's best known pop musician have produced a song together in the name of peace, available only on the Internet," reported the AFP news service.
"The Belgian parliament amended a controversial law on Tuesday to prevent US President George W. Bush being prosecuted for war crimes over the conflict in Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"A former Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations was arrested in New York on Tuesday for allegedly stealing about US$2.5mil from his government," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Education authorities in Hongkong are coming under mounting pressure to shut down all 2,100 schools and kindergartens in the territory amid a widening outbreak of the mysterious atypical pneumonia," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Health authorities in Canada's most populous province have advised hundreds of people to quarantine themselves to try to stop the spread of a fatal, flu-like illness from Asia," reported the AP news agency.
"Malaysia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Datuk Rastam Mohamed Isa told the United Nations Security Council that the unilateral military action taken by the United States and its allies against Iraq is an illegitimate act of aggression and should be stopped immediately," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The wretched living conditions of some two million people in Iraq’s second largest city of Basra, which is under siege by American and British troops, is bleeding the hearts of relief agency workers there. They said thousands of civilians, especially children already facing severe malnutrition, were in grave danger of dying as one in four people were reported to be drinking sewage-contaminated water for the past six days," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations walked out of an war debate after Iraq's ambassador accused the United States of planning the military attack for years and being duped into believing the Iraqi people would welcome them with hugs and flowers," reported the AP news agency.
"Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri then went on to charge that the United States and allies Britain and Australia were trying to exterminate the Iraqi people. He said that the United States was now using the humanitarian issue to hide its criminal aggression," reported the AP news agency.
"Oil prices rose above $30 a barrel Thursday for the first time since war broke out in Iraq, as concerns about worldwide supplies replaced early hopes for a quick end to the military conflict," reported the AP news agency.
