"The United States and its allies will declare victory in the war in Iraq within the next few days, military ally Australia said yesterday. But the US forces are still hunting for Saddam Hussein and other top Iraqi officials, and have still not found Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, the justification for the US-led invasion on March 20," reported the news Agencies.
"US soldiers dive into his indoor swimming pool for fun. His photographs are scattered in the ashes of his bombed palace. A broken statue of him on a horse reminds people of his downfall. But many residents of Saddam Hussein's hometown insist he lives and cling to the hope he will come home," reported the Reuters news agency.
"More than 1,000 Iraqis have contacted relatives around the world with the help of the International Committee for the Red Cross in the past days," reported the dpa news agency.
"The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with the new government of Iraq that would give the Pentagon access to military bases in the region," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The marines are expected to leave the battle-scarred Iraqi capital by tomorrow when the US army's Fourth Infantry Division will take over. Among their most popular trophies from the battle field are flags, bayonets and posters of Saddam Hussein. The most coveted prizes are gas masks and the swords of Iraqi officers," reported the AFP news service.
"British forces in southern Iraq relaunched a train service from the port of Umm Qasr on Saturday and aim to use it as an aid supply lifeline into the heart of Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Israeli army killed five Palestinians and wounded around 70, many of them civilians, in a pre-dawn raid on the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix says U.N. inspectors should return to Iraq to verify the discovery of any weapons of mass destruction, but the United States said it sees no immediate role for his teams," reported the AP news agency.
"Garner, the head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, told Iraqis that reconstruction of their country would mean a long, hard effort. Not all were convinced. I want to cry, because these are only words, said a doctor who gave her name as Iman. If they give us anything it is not from their own pockets. It is from our oil. Saddam Hussein was an unjust ruler, but maybe one day we could have got rid of him, and not had these foreigners come in to our country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A 12-year-old Iraqi boy who touched the world after he lost both arms and was left orphaned in a US missile strike is in good spirits and responding well to treatment. Ali's plight, captured in news broadcasts and headlines around the world, has turned him into a symbol of the civilian suffering in the conflict," reported the AFP news service.
"Nearly 1,000 political prisoners lie buried in secret graves at a cemetery on the western outskirts of this capital, the cemetery's manager and a gravedigger said while displaying remains of the corpses," reported the AFP news service.
"Russia wants the UN inspectors to pronounce Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction before economic sanctions against it are lifted. The Russian official said the United States wants the sanctions to be lifted immediately ? but this stance contradicts international rights," reported the AFP news service.
"US hawks may be gunning for France over its opposition to the Iraq war but options to punish Paris at Nato are limited, unless they want the alliance to collapse," reported the AFP news service.
"Eighteen top pop stars, including Sir Paul McCartney and George Michael, released an album yesterday to raise money for child war victims in Iraq. Former Beatle McCartney, who made a live recording of his song Calico Skies, said: Whatever the politics, whatever the rights and wrongs of war, children are always the innocent victims," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US President George W. Bush said on Sunday that Syria wasgetting the message that it should heed his call to deny sanctuary to fleeing members of Saddam Hussein's government. But the US accusations have raised fears in the region and elsewhere that Syria could be next in Bush's sights as a military target," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Bush toned down the rhetoric a notch or two on Sunday and opted for diplomacy, saying US Secretary of State Colin Powell would visit Syria for talks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"When Saddam Hussein fell, Haider Dehloz lost not only his president but also the inspiration – and patron – for much of his art," reported the AFP news service.
"US military experts hunting for illegal weapons in Iraq have found precursors to a banned toxic agent, and are calling it the most important such discovery to date. The officials asked her to delete details of what chemicals had been found, saying it could help identify the scientist and expose him to reprisals. Coalition officials have said they are certain they will find the weapons and that, once they do, they will take every precaution to demonstrate they did not plant the evidence," reported the AFP news service.
"Less than three days before a deadline to announce his Cabinet or step down, Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas was still locked in a battle of wills with Yasser Arafat yesterday over his choice of a security chief capable of cracking down on militants," reported the AFP news service.
"Researchers in Italy aim to provide scientific evidence to back up claims that forgiveness is not only morally righteous, as many world religions have argued for thousands of years, but also healthy," reported the dpa news agency.
"A man obsessed with his teenage niece killed her parents and abducted the girl before releasing her unharmed. The suspect was arrested on Sunday following a high-speed chase and four-hour armed stand-off. Monroe County District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich said there is some evidence of an obsession of a sexual nature with the 13-year-old,'' reported the AP news agency.
"A drug-resistant superbug that has swept through hospitals and infecting patients is now hitting healthy people. MRSA – methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus – normally enters the wounds of patients weakened by disease or injury. But a new strain, which can be transmitted simply by skin contact and poses a risk to healthy people, has emerged. The strain is said to have been spreading like wildfire in crowded prisons, but there have also been numerous smaller outbreaks in towns and cities across the United States," reported the dpa news agency.
"Canadian health officials, once hopeful they could quickly contain the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), are increasingly pessimistic as the number of Canadians struck by the disease continues to rise," reported the AFP news service.
"The French biologist who was the joint discoverer of the HIV/AIDS virus voiced fears yesterday the death rate from SARS would be much higher among people who are HIV-positive or suffering from full-blown AIDS," reported the AFP news service.
"Unknown gunmen fired on the US-led coalition's command base in Bagram on two occasions over the weekend, an army spokesman said yesterday. The shootings were among several attacks against coalition forces across Afghanistan,'' reported the AP news agency.
"A woman in China threw her two-month-old baby girl out of a second floor window, then battered the infant to death with a hammer when she survived the fall. The 24-year-old woman from Xian, Shaanxi Province, killed the girl because she wanted a baby boy, according to neighbours. Meanwhile, a couple in southern China has posted advertisements around their home city offering to swap their six-year-old son for a girl," reported the dpa news agency.
"Piles of U.S. currency, hundreds of millions of dollars so far, are being found in Iraq, even though the country has been under economic sanctions for nearly 13 years. Investigators - on the ground in Iraq and in the United States - are trying to track the money back to where it came from, a Herculean task, both officials and outside experts say," reported the AP news agency.
"Utusan Malaysia challenged the United States and its ally, Britain, to reveal to the world the weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons they claimed Iraq was concealing. The paper said it was the right of the world to ask questions on the whereabouts of these weapons as the US had used this reason to invade Iraq, adding that despite one week after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, there had been no such evidence," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims, shaking off 25 years of repression by Saddam Hussein, ecstatically celebrated a major pilgrimage yesterday but expressed impatience at the US presence in their country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, known as Saddam Hussein's Shi’ite Thug for his role in Iraq's bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991, was arrested on Monday. Bush administration officials have identified al-Zubaydi as one of nine Iraqis – including Saddam – sought for trial on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity," reported the AP news agency.
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday there was little likelihood of a long-term US military presence in Iraq and the emergence of a friendly government in Baghdad could be a reason to reduce US forces in the region. Rumsfeld angrily denounced a New York Times story that said Washington was planning a long-term military relationship with an emerging Iraqi government that would give it access to bases in the country," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of Iraqis lined up at the US Army's new civilian operations centre in Baghdad yesterday desperately seeking to get their old jobs back, or any work they can get. But a spokesman said the army had not finished a screening process started about two weeks ago by the departed US marines and had no idea when hiring would start or how many would be employed," reported the AFP news service.
"Art collectors and dealers say they already are getting queries about artefacts looted from Iraq's museums, and the FBI said on Monday that at least one suspected piece has been seized at an American airport. People in the United States already buy about 60% of the world's art, both legal and illegal," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq's oil-for-food programme is in limbo, snarled up in political debates and difficulties that make it unlikely that even 10% of its US$14bil in emergency funds can be tapped," reported the AFP news service.
"US officials tried to discredit UN weapons inspectors working in Iraq in a bid to win Security Council support for military action, the UN's chief inspector said in an interview aired yesterday. Hans Blix also said the United States and Britain appeared to have used shaky intelligence, including forged documents, in an effort to prove Iraq had banned weapons," reported the AP news agency.
"Britain could lose many millions of pounds worth of business in France because of a possible consumer boycott prompted by the Iraq war," reported the AFP news service.
"In a surprise move, France yesterday backed an immediate suspension of UN sanctions against Iraq, even before UN weapons inspectors had certified the country had no more weapons of mass destruction. But France's UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the UN oil-for-food programme, which collects Iraq's oil revenues, should be kept under UN control for the time being but adjusted to Iraq's current needs," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British MP George Galloway said yesterday he would sue a newspaper which claimed he was paid more than US$500,000 a year by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"The vital Palestinian reform process hung in the balance yesterday as veteran leader Yasser Arafat and his reformist premier-designate refused to compromise on a new cabinet, with Washington piling on pressure to resolve the crisis," reported the AFP news service.
"A senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Zalman Shoval, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying that Israel should focus less on Abbas, whose support among the Palestinians – who largely back armed resistance to Israel – could be eroded if he is perceived as being backed by Israel," reported the AFP news service.
"A Taiwanese man was sentenced to up to four years in prison for performing a castration in his kitchen last year. The man who underwent the castration did so because he wanted to curb his sex drive because he had a sexually transmitted disease," reported the AP news agency.
"A prominent Iranian actress has been handed a suspended sentence of 74 lashes for publicly kissing a male film director during an awards ceremony. But the court in the central city of Yazd suspended the sentence after Gohar Kheirandish, a veteran star of Iranian cinema, apologised for her public show of affection. Physical contact between unmarried and unrelated men and women is strictly forbidden in Iran," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States expects an eventual Iraqi government to be a democracy where the rights of minorities are guaranteed, not a theocracy run by clerics such as in neighbouring Iran. Anti-American demonstrations have been frequent in Baghdad and the south, but Garner said he believed these passions would cool," reported the news Agencies.
"British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday he believed Saddam Hussein was probably still hiding in Iraq, two weeks after Baghdad fell to US-led forces," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Crude oil from Iraq's southern fields began flowing through pipelines yesterday, the first time since the start of the war. Our focus in restoring the oil is to give the biggest benefit to the Iraqi people. That means restoring the infrastructure. It's a coalition effort to make that happen said Brig-Gen Robert Crear, the top US official charged with getting Iraq's oil production up and running," reported the AP news agency.
"A prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric, saying he was detained and beaten by US forces, charged yesterday that American methods were worse than those employed by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein," reported the AFP news service.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday France would suffer the consequences for having opposed the United States over the war with Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The White House on Tuesday all but dismissed UN disarmament inspectors as useless in post-war Iraq, saying US-led forces had replaced them in the hunt for Saddam Hussein's alleged forbidden weapons. Failure to find such weapons could prove embarrassing, and some critics of the administration have warned that excluding UN inspectors risks fuelling speculation that Washington planted any weapons it finds," reported the AFP news service.
"The Defence Department, prodded by a lawmaker angry at German opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, said on Tuesday it was weighing whether to stick with its chosen German-based product for a potential US$4.3mil contract to seal the Pentagon's exterior concrete walls," reported the Reuters news agency.
"France yesterday defended its opposition to the Iraq war, despite a warning by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Paris would face consequences for its stance. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France would continue to uphold its principles, whatever the cost," reported the AP news agency.
"Yasser Arafat and his prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, ended their bitter standoff over the formation of a new Cabinet yesterday, removing a major hurdle to the unveiling of a US-backed peace plan. The agreement was brokered by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who shuttled between the offices of Arafat and Abbas throughout the day yesterday, racing against a midnight deadline," reported the AP news agency.
"Ten workers were briefly hospitalised in Washington and Florida on Tuesday after they came into contact with a white powder feared to contain biotoxins, in what appear to be false alarms. A preliminary examination of the powder indicated it was harmless," reported the AFP news service.
"The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned yesterday against travel to Beijing, China's Shanxi province and Canada's business capital Toronto to try to halt the global spread of the deadly SARS virus," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing umrah visas to Muslims in the Far East because of fears over Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," reported the AFP news service.
"Medical staff who feared they would catch the SARS virus forced three patients with the disease to move to a government hospital yesterday, then closed their private medical centre and quarantined themselves inside as panic gripped this Indian town," reported the AP news agency.
"Australia's most populous state yesterday added the SARS virus sweeping Asia to a list of dangerous, communicable diseases, allowing authorities to fine or jail potential sufferers for six months if they refuse treatment," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly began talks with North Korea yesterday aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons programme, but few expect a breakthrough," reported the Reuters news agency.
"U.S. forces in Iraq have taken custody of Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and the most visible Iraqi leader other than Saddam Hussein," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush claimed in a television interview Thursday that there is some evidence suggesting Saddam Hussein is either dead or at the very minimum was severely wounded. Bush also said U.S. troops would remain in Iraq as long as necessary. As to criticism from Iraqis of the continued U.S. presence there, Bush said, the point we're making is that the foundation for democracy is now being laid," reported the AP news agency.
"Share prices were lower on the London Stock Exchange Thursday. Concerned that stocks are overpriced after this week's big rally, investors collected profits Thursday, sending Wall Street moderately lower," reported the AP news agency.
"More than half of Americans say the country is now in a recession and feel the economy will be more important to their vote in the 2004 presidential election than the nation's security," reported the AP news agency.
"In Tikrit, Iraq, there has been a rise in the number of people with stomach and intestinal infection from consuming contaminated water. Dr Ahmad Tabit said 10 days ago, the hospital received only four such cases but now it was up to 15 daily and rising by the day," reported the JMTM news agency.
"US troops like nothing more than hoisting the star-spangled banner when they occupy an enemy position but, in Iraq, they are learning it is a quick way to lose new friends. A string of incidents, some of them fatal, have shown that even a friendly crowd can turn against the Americans at the first sign of them either raising their own flag or lowering Iraq's," reported the Reutres news agency.
"Iraq's US civil administrator tackled the task of finding Iraqis able to work with US forces to put the country back on its feet after 24 years of Saddam Hussein's rule, scheduling a town meeting for prospective leaders," reported the news Agencies.
"The UN Security Council yesterday voted unanimously to extend until June 3 United Nations authority over the programme that uses Iraqi oil revenues to purchase emergency food and medicine for Iraqis. The oil-for-food plan was revised on March 28 for 45 days to give UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan control of humanitarian goods," reported the news Agencies.
"The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) on Wednesday expressed serious concern about the plight of civilians in Iraq and stressed that reopening schools there was a top priority," reported the AFP news service.
"US soldiers and members of the news media are being investigated for taking art, artefacts, weapons and cash from Iraq, with criminal charges already brought in one case," reported the AP news agency.
"The United States announced the capture of four more key members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle, while Iran yesterday warned patrolling US troops not to violate its border with Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"The search for banned weapons in Iraq could be conducted by a country that is not a member of the US-led coalition, instead of by the United Nations, Britain's defence secretary said yesterday. Geoff Hoon said a number of countries were ready to take on the task and claimed the UN was not the only organisation capable of providing independent verification of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction programme," reported the AP news agency.
"Australia's trade minister and a dozen corporate leaders will go to the United States next week in a bid to win a slice of the multi-billion-dollar business of rebuilding Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"The US government awarded the first major reconstruction contract to the giant American engineering firm Bechtel, which is expected to start offering subcontracts for the work in coming weeks," reported the AFP news service.
"Three US marines were killed and seven injured near the Iraqi city of Kut when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher they were using malfunctioned," reported the Reutres news agency.
"The war in Iraq may be over, but the conservatives' war on peacenik Hollywood liberals has a new front. The anonymous backers of Celiberal.com call anti-war notables celiberals – for celebrity liberal – and want them blacklisted and call to stop buying or renting their movies, music albums, books and the products or services they endorse," reported the AFP news service.
"Blacks and whites are murdered in about equal numbers, but what happens to their killers can be far different. Those who murder whites are much more likely to be executed than killers of blacks, Amnesty International USA said on Wednesday," reported the AP news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that three-way talks between North Korea, China and the United States had ended a day earlier than expected and warned Pyongyang that Washington would not respond to threats. Powell said the talks had concluded and that while US and Chinese officials might hold talks today, the North Korean involvement was over," reported the AFP news service.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber killed a security guard and wounded 10 bystanders in a rush hour explosion at a train station in Israel yesterday, a day after the incoming Palestinian prime minister completed forming a new Cabinet that clears the way for a new Mideast peace initiative by Washington," reported the AP news agency.
