"The militant Islamic group Hamas repeated yesterday it will keep up suicide attacks on Israelis unless Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas retracts recent peace pledges he made at a US-led summit. Hamas leaders on Friday called off talks with Abbas on ending violence and said they would talk to other Palestinian factions to forge a unified position on the US-Israeli-Palestinian summit in Jordan last Wednesday. Palestinian hardliners and reformist Abbas now appear on a collision course, raising fears of a Palestinian civil war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A light aircraft nose-dived into an apartment block in a densely populated area of Los Angeles on Friday, killing two people and injuring at least seven," reported the AFP news service.
"A new government report alleging abuse of Middle Eastern men detained after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks could bolster a pending lawsuit against Attorney-General John Ashcroft and other US officials," reported the AP news agency.
"Four German soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in an apparent suicide bomb attack on a bus full of German peacekeepers in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Schroeder called the attack a cowardly and deviousact aimed at undermining the fragile peace in the war-torn country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President George W. Bush's administration distorted intelligence and presented conjecture as evidence to justify a US invasion of Iraq, according to a retired intelligence official, Thielmann, who was director of the strategic, proliferation and military issues office in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research," reported the AP news agency.
"The seven inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived on Friday after chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix publicly questioned the credibility of the coalition experts charged with searching out Iraq's arsenal. It was not immediately clear when they would actually head for the site," reported the AFP news service.
"The CIA bowed to Bush administration pressure to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes ahead of the US-led war in Iraq, a leading national security historian concluded in a detailed study of the spy agency's public pronouncements," reported the Reuters news agency.
"UN nuclear experts made their first inspection of Iraq's largest nuclear facility yesterday amid fears that thousands of residents may have been poisoned after the site was looted," reported the AFP news service.
"The US State Department has asked for a review of its information campaign in the Arab and Muslim worlds, which has been much criticised for failing to address Arab objections to US policy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim group said yesterday that 20 of its members have been arrested by US occupation forces, but it denied they had anything to do with anti-US attacks," reported the AFP news service.
"Fighting persisted in Chechnya yesterday despite a new amnesty offer for rebels, with a fierce two-day battle in one town in the war-ravaged region leaving at least 20 people dead including two civilians," reported the AP news agency.
"Twenty seven people died and 33 were injured early on Saturday when a bus crashed into a tunnel wall on a highway in eastern Turkey," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A couple devoted to a vegetarian diet of uncooked food were charged with manslaughter on Friday in the malnutrition death of their five-month-old daughter, who died weighing less than she did at birth. Lamoy Andressohn, 27, and Joseph Andressohn, 34, were also charged with neglecting their four surviving children, who were taken by the state after their sister Woyah's death on May 15," reported the AP news agency.
"A Florida judge ruled on Friday that a Muslim woman cannot wear a veil in her driver's licence photo, agreeing with state authorities that the practice could help terrorists conceal their identities. After hearing three days of testimony last week, Circuit Judge Janet C. Thorpe ruled that Sultaana Freeman's right to free exercise of religion would not be infringed by having to show her face on her licence," reported the AP news agency.
"Former US president and Hollywood star Ronald Reagan is to take on a new starring role in a television mini-series that tells the story of his half-century love affair with his wife Nancy," reported the AFP news service.
"The U.N. special envoy, Razali Ismail, of Malaysia, said he was encouragedby his meeting Monday with the junta's two top generals in a bid to secure the release of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi," reported the AP news agency.
"Three Palestinians disguised as Israeli soldiers sneaked into an army post yesterday and killed four Israelis before being killed by troops the first major attack on Israelis since last week's Mideast summit. The shooting could be a major setback to a US-backed peace plan and came just hours after Palestinian militant groups affirmed they would not halt attacks on Israelis," reported the AP news agency.
"Poles began the second and last day of voting yesterday in a referendum on joining the European Union, after a low turnout on day one threatened to render the ballot invalid," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused Britain and the United States on Saturday of instigating a protest drive to topple his government, as police held main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on a new treason charge. On Saturday, Mugabe said former colonial power Britain and the US were behind the protests and hinted his government would retaliate," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Heavy gunfire erupted early yesterday in the capital of the north-west African country of Mauritania in an apparent coup attempt against a pro-Israel Arab leader who recently launched a crackdown on Islamists. Mortar and small arms fire broke out here near the office of President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, residents said. The army colonel took power in 1984 and then went on to win in elections," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Relatives of a Singapore woman and her mother killed by the woman's husband complained that justice won't be served under a plea agreement that limits his sentence to 30 years in prison. Under a plea agreement, US Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class David A. DeArmond will serve no more than 30 years in a military prison for the brutal double-slaying of his wife and mother-in-law and for having sex with his wife's dead body. He is to be sentenced as early as this week," reported the AP news agency.
"British researchers said yesterday they had found evidence that male babies who grow slowly in their first year have lower incomes in later life. The results hold true regardless of the socio-economic status of the child's family, suggesting that slow infant growth may be accompanied by hampered brain development," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Despite having wanted to wring his neck after learning of his affair with Monica Lewinsky, former US first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton admits she still loves Bill Clinton and believes he is the most interesting man she has ever met, according to excerpts from her memoirs," reported the AFP news service.
"Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham said on Saturday that President George W. Bush's aggressive foreign policy has left America the most questioned nation in the world and made it far more difficult to forge an effective battle against terrorism. The Florida senator also said failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq could damage the nation's international standing even more," reported the AP news agency.
"The use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons is haram, or strictly forbidden by Islam, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said yesterday in the strongest rejection yet of allegations that Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons. But Kharazi said exerting pressure on Iran over its nuclear energy programme being developed with Russian assistance was counter-productive, and he again accused fellow signatories of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of failing to fulfil their side of the deal, arguing they cannot put Iran under pressure and say accept this protocol, or put Iran under pressure not to use atomic technology for peaceful purposes," reported the AFP news service.
"International peacekeepers vowed yesterday that they would not step back a single step in their mission to provide law and order in the Afghan capital, a day after a suicide bombing killed four German soldiers and wounded 31 in the worst-ever attack on the security force. An Afghan civilian was also killed," reported the AP news agency.
"Europe's higher interest rates are to blame for the recent slide in the U.S. dollar, President George W. Bush said, repeating his support for a strong dollar. Analysts believe the opposite: They think the administration wants the dollar to lower the trade deficit. A weaker dollar makes U.S. products more competitive on overseas markets and foreign goods more expensive for U.S. consumers. Private economists say a far bigger factor in the greenback's decline is America's record trade deficit," reported the AP news agency.
"Israeli soldiers began tearing down settlement outposts in the West Bank on Monday - one of its obligations under a new Mideast peace plan - but settlers threatened to turn out by the thousands to frustrate the government's efforts. However, Palestinians were not impressed. Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo rejected the removal of the outposts as just a symbolic step," reported the AP news agency.
"The New York Stock Exchange is seeking to exempt journalists who report from inside the exchange from being fingerprinted for FBI background checks," reported the AP news agency.
"Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez found his Norwegian counterpart willing to trim production if needed, but not as part of the general curb being sought by OPEC," reported the AP news agency.
"Share prices fell Monday on the London Stock Exchange. US Stocks took a break from their big rally Monday, dropping sharply as investors, wary that prices have climbed too high, too quickly, cashed in some of their profits," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas yesterday denounced new attacks by militant groups that threaten a US-backed peace plan and vowed to press on with efforts to persuade them to agree a ceasefire," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to a convention of his Likud Party in Jerusalem showed Israel was backing away from its commitment to the Mideast peace road map," reported the AFP news service.
"Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told parliament Britain would not benefit at the moment from adopting the EU single currency, saying four of the five tests he set in 1997 had not been met. But in surprisingly enthusiastic comments, he also outlined the government's vision in principle for signing up at a future date to the currency already adopted by 12 of the 15 EU members," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Poles celebrated their overwhelming Yes vote in a weekend referendum on joining the European Union, leaving their communist past behind them to lead up to 10 newcomers into the rich western bloc next year," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Prof Siegfried Meryn, the president of the International Society for Men's Health (ISMH) in Vienna, said Men's health is a global problem that requires global solutions. Lower life expectancy, rising levels of male cancers and common sexual problems have created a crisis in men's health and prompted calls to get male private parts on a global health agenda," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Increasingly portly Australians may be slapped with a fat tax on chips, hamburgers and soft drinks as obesity balloons to record levels," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two months after the fall of the Iraqi capital, the death toll among occupying US troops is mounting from Iraqi attacks that have become a daily occurrence despite American insistence they are isolated incidents. The US death brought to 29 the number of American servicemen who had died in fighting or accidents in Iraq since US President George W. Bush declared the war effectively over on May 1," reported the AFP news service.
"British Home Secretary David Blunkett became the most senior British minister to admit publicly that Downing Street was wrong to publish the dodgy dossier on the military threat posed by Saddam Hussein, as both sides in the simmering intelligence row moved to cool tempers," reported the Guardian.
"It was widely reported that Alastair Campbell, Blair's communications director, had written to Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6, apologising that the dossier had not met the required standard of accuracy it included plagiarised sections of a PhD thesis when published in late January," reported the Guardian.
"The Vatican has begun investigating an allegation of sexual harassment against one of the Philippines' most prominent Roman Catholic clerics, a church official said yesterday. The secretary of Bishop Teodoro Bacani accused him of sexually harassing her earlier this year, setting off a furore in the media. A formal complaint was lodged with church authorities, but no details were disclosed," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Police in Thailand have broken up a cell of the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah and foiled a plot to bomb embassies in the country," reported the AP news agency.
"A Pulitzer Prize awarded in 1932 to a New York Times correspondent is under review and could be revoked because of complaints that he deliberately ignored a forced famine in the Ukraine that killed millions," reported the AP news agency.
"Sixty people seized during a raid on a remote pipeline construction camp, in the jungle near the town of Palma Pampa, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of the Andean city Ayacucho, Peru, were released Tuesday, a day after being taken captive by suspected guerrillas," reported the AP news agency.
"Health authorities closed a hospital to new patients on Monday because of a possible fresh cluster of SARS cases and reinforced orders for all staff treating patients in the Toronto area to wear gloves, masks and gowns," reported the news Agencies.
"Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying a senior Hamas leader yesterday, wounding him, killing his bodyguard and a bystander and jeopardising the US-backed road map to Middle East peace. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of trying to destroy the road map plan to get out of its commitments," reported the AP news agency.
"A Belgian court ruled yesterday that a lawsuit brought against an Israeli general for alleged crimes against humanity can go to trial. The appeal court ruled that there was no reason to reject the suit against General Amos Yaron over the 1982 massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut. The Israeli general, who is now director-general at the Defence Ministry, was responsible for the Beirut sector at the time. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was defence minister," reported the AFP news service.
"The head of Iran's atomic energy body asserted yesterday that the country was not concealing any of its facilities from UN nuclear inspectors, and challenged the United States to back up accusations to the contrary with hard evidence," reported the AFP news service.
"And The head of Iran's atomic energy body also took a swipe at Israel, saying: It should be asked from which country Israel gained the technology for a nuclear arsenal? Who has given this technology to a country that has been responsible for so many crises in the region over the past decades?," reported the AFP news service.
"Strikes hobbled trains, caused airline delays and created transportation havoc across France yesterday as public-sector workers walked off the job over a highly contested plan to reform the pension system. About 40 cities were affected by the strike, which began hours before Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was to personally open a parliamentary debate on the pension plan reform," reported the AP news agency.
"Egyptologists researching a mummy first discovered in 1898 believe it is the mummy of Queen Nefertiti, a legendary beauty and wife of the renegade pharaoh Akhenaten, the Discovery Channel, which financed the research, said on Monday. But Susan James, an Egyptologist who has long studied the three mummies, is sceptical, as without any comparative DNA studies, statements of certainty are merely wishful thinking," reported the AFP news service.
"An Australian woman who contracted the AIDS virus from her husband successfully sued two doctors yesterday for not warning her he was HIV positive when they went for joint tests. The couple were not told each others' results and they subsequently married and had unprotected sex. The Australian Medical Association said its legal experts were examining the implications of the case," reported the AFP news service.
"Health officials investigating an outbreak of monkeypox that apparently spread from pet prairie dogs to people said the number of reported cases has risen to at least 40, including four that have been confirmed. It was the first time monkeypox, a smallpox-related virus normally found in Africa, had ever appeared in the United States, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," reported the AP news agency.
"Abductors freed four UN military observation team members yesterday after five days of captivity, independent Georgian television channel Rustavi-2 reported. However, the Georgian official in charge of negotiations with the kidnappers could not confirm the report," reported the AP news agency.
"The United States has said its failure to find Saddam Hussein may be emboldening the fallen leader's Baath party supporters to attack US forces in Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Rumsfeld said the intelligence on Iraq was not politicised and the assessment that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction would ultimately prove correct. Rumsfeld insisted all US intelligence agencies were in broad agreement and any differences were laid out in National Intelligence Estimate reports," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An estimated 10,000 high school students rallied outside Indonesia's parliament yesterday, urging legislators to pass a controversial bill that regulates religious teaching in private schools. Religion-based schools open to children from other faiths will in future have to provide religious teachers for those faiths. Objectors to the bill, including some Muslims, say the state should not get involved in religious matters in schools. Supporters say the bill accommodates all religions and not just Islam," reported the AFP news service.
"President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday admonished Filipinos to stop feasting on a sex scandal involving a well-known Roman Catholic bishop. The Vatican is investigating allegations that Bishop Teodoro Bacani had made sexual advances on a woman employed by his northern Manila diocese. The Church also admitted that some 200 priests were investigated for sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, some of whom were dismissed while most resigned voluntarily," reported the AFP news service.
"A lawyer who survived the Sept 11 terror attacks in New York has died of SARS in Hongkong, his widow said yesterday," reported the dpa news agency.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and injured nearly 100 on a Jerusalem bus yesterday to avenge an Israeli bid to assassinate a Hamas leader; Israel struck back within minutes, killing seven," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel defended itself yesterday against a rare US rebuke for its attempted assassination of a Palestinian militant leader that further undermined a Middle East peace plan. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered aides to turn over intelligence to US officials to back accusations that Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, the public face of the radical Islamic group Hamas, had been co-ordinating attacks on Israelis," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Britain is tottering on the brink of a sexual health crisis, doctors warned yesterday, as a parliamentary committee reported an alarming surge in sexually transmitted diseases. So bad is the situation, it said, that teaching about sex and personal relationships should be made compulsory in schools," reported the AFP news service.
"The Louisville archdiocese will pay US$25.7mil to nearly 250 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests and other employees of the Roman Catholic church. The deal marks one of the largest settlements in the sexual abuse scandal that has roiled the Catholic church, and follows two similar settlements reached in New Hampshire and Boston in the last year," reported the AP news agency.
"A proposed New Zealand law that would name a woman in a same-sex marriage as the father of a child has outraged some lawmakers. New Zealand law recognises same-sex marriages between women but not men," reported the AP news agency.
"Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said in a newspaper interview published yesterday that bastards in Washington took part in a smear campaign against him in the run-up to the Iraq war. The normally cool Swede, who is due to retire from his UN post at the end of the month, also said that US officials pressured him to use more damning language when reporting on Iraqs alleged weapons programmes," reported the AP news agency.
"Blix, who oversaw a fruitless search for Iraqi weapons during three-and-a-half months, said at a lower level, he was probably the target of a smear campaign by US officials wishing to discredit him," reported the AP news agency.
"Attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at American troops here, killing a paratrooper and wounding another, US Central Command said. The command added US troops were staging a massive crackdown on Saddam Hussein loyalists believed behind such attacks," reported the AP news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday he would push reluctant South-East Asian nations to confront Myanmar's military rulers and demand democratic reforms when he attends a regional security meeting next week in Cambodia," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel and the radical Palestinian group Hamas declared all-out war on each other yesterday, promising more bloodshed after a Jerusalem bus bombing and retaliatory strikes on Gaza plunged the conflict into one of its most violent phases," reported the AFP news service.
"The UN Security Council yesterday renewed a one-year exemption for US peacekeeping troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, despite the opposition of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. France, Germany and Syria abstained," reported the AFP news service.
"Iran's supreme leader lashed out at the United States yesterday, accusing it of stirring up trouble in the country, after anti-regime protestors defied threats of a harsh crackdown and took to the streets for a second night running," reported the AFP news service.
"Scientists believe they have found our oldest immediate ancestors, a finding that sheds fresh light on Homo sapiens' rise out of Africa and their conquest of the globe," reported the AFP news service.
"The number of millionaires around the world grew to 7.3 million last year, but the United States saw for the first time a drop in the number of high-wealth people and their net worth. The survey by Cap Gemini Ernst and Young with brokerage Merrill Lynch concluded that the number of high-net-worth individuals - with at least US$1mil in assets, excluding real estate - grew by 200,000 last year," reported the AFP news service.
"A website for a century-old cemetery in New Zealand is under repair after local historians unearthed a slew of embarrassing mistakes, such as people recorded buried in the wrong graves. Names and dates were given incorrectly, and in some cases, the online database had husbands laid to rest with other men's wives," reported the AP news agency.
"Hisham Sharaf, the director of the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra, their first performance after the war will not be about the beauty of music. It's about showing that Iraqis are doing more than just robbing and pillaging in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster," reported the AFP news service.
"A US helicopter gunship was shot down in western Iraq on yesterday, just hours after US fighter jets bombed a terrorist training camp in central Iraq. The two incidents came as US ground forces were winding up a massive sweep north of here aimed at finding those organising attacks on occupation forces," reported the AFP news service.
"Republicans in Congress rebuffed calls by Democrats for a full-blown investigation into whether the Bush administration misread or inflated the threats posed by Iraq before going to war. But they agreed on Wednesday to hold oversight hearings and review documents on US intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration justified the invasion of Iraq largely on the imminent threat it said such weapons posed, but since the war none has been found," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US military, stung by sporadic guerilla strikes in Iraq, has lunged back at presumed assailants, rounding up about 400 suspects in what is seen as one the largest combat operations since the fall of Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli officials confirmed yesterday that the military is now targeting top Hamas leaders, who until recently appeared immune from retribution, in an all-out war against the Islamic militant group which has killed hundreds of Israelis, including two dozen this week," reported the AP news agency.
"Prime Minister John Howard ordered inquiries yesterday into why Australia has granted asylum to a former Bangladeshi prime minister convicted of stealing from his impoverished people," reported the AFP news service.
"US health officials are monitoring three people thought to have been infected with the deadly monkeypox virus in what could be the first US cases of human-to-human transmission. Two of the potential victims are medical staff who worked at hospitals in the Milwaukee area and were exposed to individuals known to have been infected with the disease," reported the AP news agency.
"US troops killed 27 Iraqis who they said ambushed a tank patrol yesterday, after killing at least 70 at a guerilla camp the day before, in the bloodiest clashes since major combat was declared over," reported the AP news agency.
"A covert, specialised army unit scoured Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, even before the US-led war, but has come up empty handed, The Washington Post said yesterday. Drawn from the US Army's special mission units known as Delta Force, Task Force 20 found no working non-conventional munitions, long-range missiles or missile parts, bulk stores of chemical or biological warfare agents or enrichment technology for the core of a nuclear weapon," reported the AFP news service.
"Arab men who are among 13,000 from Muslim countries facing possible deportation for US visa violations after voluntarily registering with authorities, vowed on Thursday to stay in the United States with their families," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The CIA shared with other US agencies its doubts about pre-war reports later proven false that Iraq sought uranium from Niger. About a month after Bush's January 2002 speech, the United Nations determined the uranium reports were based primarily on forged documents initially obtained by European intelligence agencies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States on Thursday hailed the anti-government demonstrations in Iran and said it supported the aspirations of Iranians to live in democracy and freedom," reported the AFP news service.
