"Two women suicide bombers killed at least 16 other people, one of them a child, when they blew themselves apart at an open-air rock festival staged at a Moscow airfield yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A website lampooning the United States' inability to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has become one of the biggest hits on the Internet. The site, which was designed to look like a genuine error message - replete with a bomb icon - is the top result when weapons of mass destruction is entered into one of the Web's top search engines: www.google.com," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Amnesty International has denounced the planned US military trials for six prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay as a travesty of justice. President George W. Bush has designated six foreign captives in what he calls the war on terrorism as eligible to be tried for US military commissions," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A former James Bond girl and model has been ordained into the Church of England. After giving up modelling, she studied Anglican theology in the United States and in Liverpool, where she completed a doctoral thesis on providence and vocation," reported the AFP news service.
"The US military wants to expand its presence in Africa, where it sees potential havens for terror groups. The military's plans for Africa pre-date Bush's trip and reflect a wider Pentagon review of where to position US forces throughout the world. The Pentagon is not seeking permanent US bases in Africa but wants to rotate troops in Europe to Africa more frequently. It would like access to bases in Africa for training and for periodic strikes on terror groups including al-Qaeda and smaller African groups," reported the AFP news service.
"Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, returning yesterday from a four-nation tour that brought US$3bil in new aid, said his efforts to polish the nation's image were wasted with the attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque a day earlier. The president, who serves concurrently as chief of Pakistan's powerful military, also said his country would not give up its nuclear weapons programme or its arsenal, saying they were designed for its defence and security," reported the AP news agency.
"AT 2am, baton-wielding police kick open the doors of a home in Kenyas Mombasa port, bludgeon its Muslim inhabitants and seize a terror suspect. Furious Muslim leaders complain of anti-Islamic prejudice. In Malawi, US agents and police grab five foreign Muslims suspected of plotting terror and whisk them overseas without a court appearance, triggering days of protests by local Muslims," reported the Reuters news agency.
"If US President George W. Bush expects sympathy from ordinary Africans for his global war against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group when he visits the continent this month he will be disappointed. Instead, anti-US sentiment is deepening as governments hunt militants at the behest of Washington and Britain, raising fears for civil liberties, straining ties between Christians and Muslims and hurting old friendships with the West," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The discovery was a stroke of luck: the light of the setting sun hit an ancient tomb at just the right angle and revealed hints of a worn inscription, unnoticed for centuries, commemorating the father of John the Baptist. The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high (18-meter-high) funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers. But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church," reported the AP news agency.
"A Russian military helicopter crashed in Chechnya yesterday, killing four servicemen on board and injuring 11, the air force said. Russian news agencies said the crash happened within minutes of takeoff. There was no immediate indication that separatist rebels were connected," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin remained conspicuously quiet yesterday on a deadly suicide attack at a Moscow rock concert which served as a clear sign that his moves towards peace in breakaway Chechnya were not going according to plan. Putin issued condolences to the families of people who died on Saturday when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at the concert's ticket booth, killing at least 16 other people and injuring around 50 others. But the Russian leader had made no comment since then," reported the AFP news service.
"The Israeli cabinet app-roved yesterday the release of Palestin-ian prisoners in a bid to bolster a US-backed peace plan and a truce declared by militants. But the number of freed prisoners was likely to fall short of Palestinian demands for the release of all of the estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Palestinians held by Israel," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Liberian President Charles Taylor, under US pressure to quit, said yesterday he had accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria but wanted to make sure he made an orderly exit that did not lead to chaos. Taylor's departure has been set as the first condition for bringing peace by US President George W. Bush, who is considering sending peacekeepers to a West African country wrecked by nearly 14 years of violence," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A team of US military experts will fly to Liberia from Germany to assess how to bring stability to the broken West African country. The United States is debating whether to send troops to Liberia where President Charles Taylor holds barely a third of the country and is wanted for war crimes by an international court," reported the Reuters news agency.
"For years the women suffered in silence. They were afraid to tell their husbands. And some smothered the mixed-race infants to whom they gave birth. Hundreds of women have been arriving at the Impact Centre, a community-based initiative in this dusty town 300km north of Nairobi, to register claims against the British defence ministry for the harm they suffered at the hands of British troops training in the area," reported the AFP news service.
"Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday southern African states would reject any attempt by US President George W. Bush to interfere in Zimbabwe's affairs when he visits Africa next week," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Nearly two years after the Sept 11 attacks, America's seven million Muslims are struggling to present a friendly face to a society that often treats them as a security risk, Muslim community leaders said on Saturday. But Muslims who travelled to Philadelphia for a July 4 weekend convention said they were determined to find ways to integrate into the American social mainstream, despite perceived injustices imposed by US President George W. Bush's war on terrorism," reported the Reuters news agency.
"U.S. President George W. Bush turned 57 yesterday and attended church here with his wife, Laura, and family friends. Bush was spending a rare weekend in Washington," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Islamists and supporters of the royal-led Cabinet kept their grip on Kuwait's parliament in weekend elections while Westernised liberals suffered major losses," reported the AP news agency.
"An advance team of Nato troops was due to arrive in the Afghan capital yesterday to prepare for the alliance's first military operation in Asia. The team of computer experts will set up a network for Nato, which takes over command of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) next month," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A series of explosions and fires which reduced a petrol station here to a burnt-out shell injured a total of 189 people, seven of them seriously, but caused no fatalities," reported the AFP news service.
"A former US ambassador who investigated a report about Iraq buying uranium from Niger accused the Bush administration yesterday of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Joseph Wilson, Washington's envoy to Gabon from 1992 to 1995, said in an article in the New York Times that he went to Niger in February 2002 at the request of the CIA to assess the intelligence report - which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later dismissed as being based on forged documents. According to news reports, the allegations of an Iraq-Niger deal were based on forged letters obtained by Italian intelligence from an African diplomat," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US soldier was shot and critically wounded at Baghdad University yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US military official confirmed yesterday that US forces in northern Iraq had detained several soldiers they believed to be Turkish. Turkey's foreign minister dismissed the charge as nonsense. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States on Saturday of seizing the troops in an ugly incident. He later said some of them had been freed," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US military team flew into Liberia yesterday to look at how best to bring stability to the broken West African country as President Charles Taylor prepares for foreign exile," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Boeing 727 plane, whose sudden disappearance in Angola in May unnerved US intelligence agencies, reappeared last week in the Guinean capital of Conakry before vanishing once again. Washington has been working with African governments in the past month in a frantic bid to hunt down the cargo plane, amid fears the aircraft could be used by terrorists in a repeat of the Sept 11 attacks," reported the AFP news service.
"A row has broken out in Australia's Queensland state following reports that police there used photographs of real-life people, including Aborigines, during target practice. Civil rights activists reacted with outrage but police maintained they had done nothing wrong," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that all Chechen rebels must be dug out of their caves and destroyed after two female suicide bombers killed 13 people at a weekend rock concert," reported the AFP news service.
"Palestinian security forces said yesterday they have detained an 18-year-old girl in the Gaza Strip who was planning a suicide bombing in Israel, an attack that could have wrecked a truce bolstering a Middle East peace plan. Five other Palestinians, including three armed men intercepted as they approached the Israeli border, were also taken into custody by Palestinian forces in separate incidents on Sunday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A parliamentary inquiry yesterday cleared the British government of misleading the country in the run-up to the Iraq war over the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, but criticised Prime Minister Tony Blair for publishing an unreliable intelligence dossier. A report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee also cleared Blair's key aide and powerful director of communications Alastair Campbell of exerting improper influence on the drafting of an intelligence file," reported the AFP news service.
"Two US soldiers in Iraq were killed and four were wounded in a spate of guerilla attacks in which at least two Iraqis also died, the US military and witnesses said yesterday. The violence was the latest indication that US occupation forces were facing guerilla warfare in Sunni Muslim central Iraq, once the cradle of support for Saddam Hussein," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A serious dispute between the government and the British Broadcasting Corp. grew more complex Tuesday when a defense staffer said he had an unauthorized meeting with a BBC reporter whose story is the source of the argument," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush said yesterday millions of African slaves had helped set America on a journey to freedom, opening his tour of Africa with a show of penance at a former slave camp in Senegal. Bush visited an infamous slave house here, off the coast of the capital Dhaka, where shackled and chained men, women and children were sent to lives of slavery in the New World. But like his predecessor Bill Clinton who also visited this spot, did not heed calls to apologise for America's role in the slave trade," reported the AFP news service.
"Many Iranians cried out in shock, some even fainted, as state television announced the deaths yesterday of the 29-year-old conjoined twins undergoing surgery to separate them in Singapore. In workplaces, restaurants and homes, Iranians stopped their activities as the news came in. Television interrupted normal programmes to announce the death of the first twin," reported the AP news agency.
"US military experts were forced by soldiers loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor to abort the start of a mission to evaluate the war-torn west African country's humanitarian and security needs yesterday. Meanwhile, Bush continued to consider sending US troops to Liberia yesterday, amid mounting international pressure for the US to commit to the force," reported the AFP news service.
"Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas tendered his resignation from the Fatah party central committee to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, yesterday. The committee however unanimously rejected the resignation," reported the news Agencies.
"International programmes to help poor nations develop and industrialise are failing in many countries and need radical changes if the world is to meet its targets for reducing poverty, a major United Nations report said yesterday. Instead of forcing developing countries to cut back on public spending, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank should be pressing rich countries to provide more help," reported the AP news agency.
"The study noted that although the United States had a higher income per capita than Sweden, it had proportionately more people living in poverty and more adults who were functionally illiterate meaning that they read below fifth grade level," reported the AP news agency.
"Germany's top-selling newspaper hit back at an Italian junior minister who called Germans arrogant slobs, speculating yesterday that he had spaghetti for brains and warning that German tourists may boycott Italy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Inspired by a weekend call by the pope for greater chastity among the young, an Italian Catholic priest has published a guide aimed at helping teenagers avoid a summer of steamy temptation; a pamphlet entitled A user's guide to chastity saying (1) don't, by your attitude and movements, exhibit your body, especially if you have a physique which turns heads, (2) avoid all traps which have obviously erotic intentions that could lead to irreparable physical and moral damage, (3) don't dress in a manner which attracts attention to your body," reported the AFP news service.
"In Meridian, Mississippi, a gunman opened fire at a plant of defence contractor Lockheed Martin yesterday, killing five people before killing himself, authorities said. Eight other people were taken to hospitals," reported the AP news agency.
"An Islamic militant cell claimed responsibility yesterday for a suicide bombing that killed a woman in Israel, violating a 10-day-old ceasefire and casting a pall over a new US-backed peace process. A further setback came when Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas cancelled a meeting on peace steps with Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon set for today, citing internal opposition to his negotiating strategy with Israel," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The White House has acknowledged for the first time that President George W. Bush should not have claimed in his State of the Union address that Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Africa to reconstitute its nuclear weapons programme, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Asked about the British report, the administration released a statement that effectively conceded that intelligence underlying the president's statement was wrong. But the administration never made Wilson's mission public," reported the AFP news service.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair, fighting for his political reputation, yesterday rejected claims he misled Britain over the case for war in Iraq despite the non-appearance of weapons of mass destruction. Blair also rejected claims that the decision to go to war was pre-agreed with the United States," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two Middle Eastern television channels broadcast yesterday what they said were new audio tapes by ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein," reported the AP news agency.
"With Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi again under arrest, the United States is preparing tough economic sanctions against the ruling military junta to make it change its course. But history and politics argue that such moves may have little effect," reported the AP news agency.
"Berman and her family joined about 330 Jews from the United States and Canada who boarded a chartered El Al jet Tuesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Tel Aviv. About 2,040 North American Jews moved to Israel last year, and the numbers are up more than 20 percent this year, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel, a governmental agency that helps the immigration process. Some Jews feel compelled to move to Israel to show their support for the country as it faces an increase in violence in its conflict with the Palestinians," reported the AP news agency.
"U.S. President George W. Bush suggested Wednesday that any U.S. military help in ending brutal civil unrest in Liberia might consist mostly of advisers and trainers to avoid stretching American forces too thinly around the globe," reported the AP news agency.
"Saddam Hussein's former interior minister and a top level member of his Baath party have een taken into custody, the latest arrests from a list of 55 most wanted Iraqi fugitives from the ousted regime," reported the AP news agency.
"The man who brought up the two Iranian sisters who died on Tuesday during a marathon surgery in Singapore to separate their fused heads told of his deep sadness but also bitterness and anger at their deaths. The twins, who had not been in contact with their adoptive family for 18 months, always said they knew the risk involved. Last month, the pair, both law graduates with career ambitions, said they were willing to face death for the chance to live separately after years of compromise and sacrifice," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas yesterday told an Egyptian military delegation which helped persuade it to call a halt to anti-Israeli attacks that it remained committed to the truce. Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters after the lunchtime meeting in Gaza City said they put the Egyptian delegation in the picture about Israeli violations and aggression and we told them we will have patience and tolerance but told them that our patience is limited," reported the AFP news service.
"Around 2,000 demonstrators waved placards and burnt US flags to protest the visit by President George W. Bush to South Africa yesterday, saying he was aiming to make South Africa Washington's policeman on the continent. The protesters, marching under the banner of the Anti-War Coalition, a broad-based group of non-governmental organisations which opposed the US-led war in Iraq, carried placards saying Go away, we have enough Bushes in Africa," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States has by far the largest number of publicly owned firearms in the world and is approaching the point where there is one gun for every American, according to the Small Arms Survey 2003 released on Tuesday. But in surprise findings, the survey found that Europeans are more heavily armed than commonly believed, while there are far fewer small arms in Afghanistan and sub-Saharan Africa than previously estimated," reported the AP news agency.
"The man who shot dead five co-workers at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts factory in eastern Mississippi on Tuesday has been described by colleagues as a white racist. The gunman, identified as Doug Williams, 48, wore camouflage pants and used at least one shotgun and a semiautomatic weapon in the shooting before killing himself. Several people with links to the factory said they believed the shooting had been racially inspired," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A former Solomon Islands prime minister claimed on Wednesday Australia was planning to take over the troubled Pacific archipelago and warned fellow politicians not to vote in favour of the action. The Solomon's has suffered four years of civil war that has wrecked the economy and caused, at times and in various parts of the country, a break down in law and order," reported the AFP news service.
"Creative genius and crime express themselves early in men but both are turned off almost like a tap if a man gets married and has children, a study says. Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, compiled a database of the biographies of 280 great scientists, noting their age at the time when they made their greatest work. After a man settles down, the testosterone level falls, as does his creative output, Kanazawa theorised," reported the AFP news service.
"Three former senior Iraqi officials, including a suspected intelligence operative who may have been in contact with leading Sept 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta," reported the AFP news service.
"A new opinion poll showed US President George W. Bush's domestic approval rating has dipped sharply amid mounting concerns about the sluggish US economy and the continued instability in post-war Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"The bodies of Iranian twins Laleh and Ladan Bijani, whose bid to lead separate lives after 29 years joined at the head ended in their deaths in a Singapore operating theatre, returned to the Iranian capital yesterday. President Mohammad Khatami and other government officials have expressed their condolences, with the president who is a mid-ranking ulama praising the two sisters for their courageous spirit. In a message, he called on the Iranian nation to praise the two sparrows for their high-spirited endurance and toleration of their difficult destiny and their determination to search for a happier future," reported the AFP news service.
"A 23-month-old Guatemalan twin once joined at the head to her sister has suffered a neurological setback and remains at the Los Angeles hospital where the two were separated almost a year ago," reported the Reuters news agency.
"UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Wednesday he had agreed with Iranian officials to send a team of experts next week to clarify Iranian concerns over tighter nuclear inspections. Iran has so far resisted calls from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to sign the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to allow the agency to conduct more rigorous, short-notice inspections of Iran's atomic sites," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Eleven industrialised nations agreed yesterday to hold military exercises aimed at halting trade in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by intercepting ships and aircraft. The United States said the consensus at the meeting gave it the authority to launch such interceptions immediately," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Food package labels will show the amount of trans-fat acids inside by 2006, under a US regulation meant to bring the unhealthful fats to consumers' attention," reported the AFP news service.
"Freed after 10 months in an American prison on Guantanamo Bay, 51-year-old Pakistani Mohammed Sanghir is demanding US$10.4mil in compensation and damages from the US government," reported the AP news agency.
"The Russian capital woke up yesterday to mounting terrorism fears as a Chechen woman tried to blow up a packed restaurant in downtown Moscow just days after a suicide attack killed 14 people at a weekend rock concert," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush yesterday acknowledged that steady attacks on US troops occupying Iraq had created a security issue that required the United States to remain tough," reported the AP news agency.
"In a stunning role reversal, two African presidents demanded yesterday that the United States apply its free trade preachings to its own economy by lifting generous state subsidies paid to southern cotton farmers," reported the AFP news service.
"The CIA approved in advance US President George W. Bush's accusation in a speech that Iraq had sought to acquire nuclear material from Africa," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Legal action on behalf of hundreds of Kenyan women who allege they were raped by British soldiers over the past 30 years is due to begin in the autumn in London," reported the Reuters news agency.
"From the Adriatic coast to the heart of Rome, tourist officials appealed to Germans yesterday to vacation in Italy despite a war of words that prompted their chancellor," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Sudanese boy who emerged as the sole survivor of a plane crash earlier this week was flown to London yesterday for treatment at the expense of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan," reported the AFP news service.
"Thousands of survivors of Europe's worst massacre of civilians since the Second World War marked the eighth anniversary of the slaughter yesterday by burying 282 more identified bodies. Shortly before the end of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, up to 8,000 Muslims, mostly men and boys, were killed at Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb soldiers who overran the town, then a UN-protected zone," reported the AP news agency.
"A New Jersey plastic bag company sued New York City on Thursday for refusing to pay for 100,000 body bags it had ordered after the Sept 11 attack on the World Trade Centre," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The oldest planet ever detected is nearly 13 billion years old and more than twice the size of Jupiter, locked in orbit around a whirling pulsar and a white dwarf," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In the 1950s Americans were told to hide under tables if a nuclear bomb went off an infamous warning that became the butt of endless jokes. Now amid a high terror alert, New York is giving its residents the same advice. On Thursday, New York published its new household preparedness manual, telling residents what to do in case of any number of disasters, ranging from earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, terrorist attacks, collapsing buildings, chemical spills to dirty bombs," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Former Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who earned the nickname Comical Ali during the US-led war on Iraq, made a sudden appearance in Abu Dhabi yesterday, saying he might not return to his homeland," reported the Reuters news agency.
