"President George W. Bush pledged yesterday to help Africa in its “courageous fight” against AIDS and called on the US Congress to fully fund his US$15bil (RM57bil) plan to combat the disease. At the last stop on his five-day, five-nation African tour, Bush also said Washington would stand with its friends and allies to end regional wars. He and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo were expected to discuss the possibility of the United States contributing troops to a mainly African peacekeeping force for Liberia at their meeting yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Democrats turned up the heat on President George W. Bush's administration on Friday, calling for an independent investigation into whether the White House misled the US public over the Iraqi threat before the war, and insisting that heads should roll over the growing scandal. In an interview on US television on Friday, former Vermont governor Howard Dean said current congressional investigations into whether the US government ignored CIA warnings about faulty intelligence on Iraq's weapons programmes had become too politicised to be effective," reported the AFP news service.
"US troops were grumbling on Friday at retired General Tommy Franks' prediction that soldiers could be stationed on Iraq's boiling desert plains for up to four years. To hear the news just as suspected supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime begin to ratchet up their attacks against US positions in this and other towns was dampening the spirits of the Americans," reported the AFP news service.
"President George W. Bush's administration was hoping yesterday that a CIA mea culpa would enable it to stamp out a smouldering scandal over questionable claims about Iraq's nuclear shopping in Africa. In a surprise statement on Friday, CIA director George Tenet took responsibility for inclusion in Bush's Jan 28 State of the Union Address of an erroneous allegation that Iraq sought to buy nuclear materials in Africa," reported the AFP news service.
"US public support for President George W. Bush is at its lowest level since January and a majority find the number of US casualties in Iraq unacceptable," reported the AFP news service.
"Eleven people at Dyess Air Force Base in the Texas city of Abilene have been quarantined as a precaution for possible exposure to SARS, but they do not appear to have the disease," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel could deport or arrest Palestinian President Yasser Arafat if he holds up his prime minister's efforts to implement a US-backedroad map to Middle East peace, Israeli diplomatic sources said yesterday. With US backing, Israel has isolated Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah since last year, accusing him of fomenting militant violence in a Palestinian uprising for independence," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Compulsory sex education for five-year-olds has been urged by government advisers on teenage pregnancy, as an essential step towards halving the nation's under-18 conception rate by 2010. The teaching of sex and relationships in British primary schools is not progressing fast enough to prepare children for the earlier onset of puberty, the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy warns government ministers in its annual report," reported the dpa news agency.
"Princess Diana had a special place in her heart for AIDS sufferers and land mine victims, prisoners' families and the homeless. But charities caring for them were devastated to learn on Friday that the memorial fund set up in Diana's name has stopped giving grants to charities because of financial problems linked to its legal feud with the American collectibles maker, the Franklin Mint," reported the AP news agency.
"A neurosurgeon who assisted in the failed attempt to separate adult conjoined twins from Iran said on Friday the operation should have been done in several stages instead of one procedure," reported the AP news agency.
"Swaziland's King Mswati III is singing the blues because of the AIDS pandemic gripping his country. The southern African kingdom, which Mswati rules as an absolute monarch, was being ravaged by the disease, and the sight of orphans as young as six heading families had moved him to produce a CD to raise funds for AIDS awareness," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Italian government official who called Germans hyper-nationalist arrogant blondes resigned on Friday at the request of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The comments from Stefano Stefani, an industry ministry undersecretary responsible for tourism, had caused a diplomatic crisis with Germany, and led Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to cancel his planned vacation to Italy," reported the AP news agency.
"A judge dropped aggravated assault and burglary charges against a man who chased a woman with a dagger after three psychologists agreed the episode was provoked by jasmine tea," reported the AP news agency.
"Sonny One Star says he learned not to cry or scream when he was beaten and sexually assaulted at his Roman Catholic boarding school on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. Four decades later, he says it is time for a different approach. He and five other Sioux are suing the federal government for US$25bil on behalf of perhaps thousands of students allegedly abused at Indian boarding schools around the country. They hope to have the case certified as a class action," reported the AP news agency.
"Towering bonfires were lit in Protestant districts across Northern Ireland early yesterday and masked guerrillas fired shots in the air to herald the peak of the tense marching season. As the most volatile date in the province's calendar began, huge pyres of wooden pallets and car tyres were lit as the pro-British majority prepared for a day of parades celebrating centuries-old battlefield victories over Irish Catholics," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Princess Diana had a special place in her heart for AIDS sufferers and land mine victims, prisoners' families and the homeless. But charities caring for them were devastated to learn on Friday that the memorial fund set up in Diana's name has stopped giving grants to charities because of financial problems linked to its legal feud with the American collectibles maker, the Franklin Mint," reported the AP news agency.
"One of the three Malaysian students who refused to leave Baghdad during the Iraq War has been detained by US troops as he was crossing the Syria border to return to Malaysia. Saddam University student Mohd Abdullah Osman, 35, is believed to have been arrested by US troops together with 42 other people nearly four weeks ago," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Indonesian police have arrested three foreigners on the resort island of Bali for allegedly dealing in illegal drugs - a crime punishable by death, officers said Tuesday. The men, from France, Argentina and Brazil, were detained in separate raids over the last week, said Bali police detective Lt. Col. Bambang Sukiarto. A fourth suspect, from New Zealand, will be charged with illegal drug possession, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment," reported the AP news agency.
"Australian Prime Minister John Howard opened a new, more secure embassy Tuesday while warning his diplomatic staff that they remain potential targets of terrorism. The opening ceremony helped mend a diplomatic spat that erupted in November when Australia, Canada and the European Union closed their embassies in Manila, citing specific and credible terrorist threats, which they refused to divulge to Philippine officials," reported the AP news agency.
"A Bangladeshi navy ship located the wreckage of a river ferry that capsized in choppy waters on Tuesday as authorities confirmed that more than 500 people died in last week's disaster. The navy used sonar to find the M V Nasreen 37 meters (120 feet) under the turbulent Meghna River, where the triple-deck ferry sank with about 750 people on board," reported the AP news agency.
"India's railway minister, Nitish Kumar, has offered to quit following a series of accidents as well as squabbling and accusations of corruption from within his party, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee refused to accept Kumar's resignation. Kumar has been widely criticized for a spate derailments in recent months that have plagued India's railroad system, which is one of the world's biggest," reported the AP news agency.
"Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter released a new book, accusing U.S. President George W. Bush of illegally attacking Iraq and calling for regime change in the United States at the next election. Ritter criticised key figures caught up in the U.S.-led war at Monday's U.N. news conference," reported the AP news agency.
"Energy supplier Mirant Corp., unable to reach a last-minute out-of-court debt restructuring plan with its creditors, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Monday. A $1.1 billion debt payment was due Tuesday and Mirant needed all its banks and 85 percent of bondholders to support a debt exchange plan. Mirant Corp., Mirant Americas Generation, LLC, and nearly all their wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States are included in the filings," reported the AP news agency.
"A Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in Tel Aviv early Tuesday, police and rescue workers said, the first terror attack in an Israeli city since Palestinian groups called a truce on June 29, as Palestinian leaders settled a rift that threatened Mideast peace moves," reported the AP news agency.
"French President Jacques Chirac's suggestion Monday that strict budget rules supporting the euro should be temporarily softened to help boost growth provoked angry reactions from some in the European Union but sympathy from Germany, which is facing even worse fiscal straits," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq took a confident step down an uncertain path toward democracy with the founding of a broadly representative governing council, but there was no respite from the violence that has plagued US forces trying to bring stability to the country. A soldier was killed and six wounded in an attack by insurgents firing multiple rocket-propelled grenades at their convoy early yesterday," reported the AP news agency.
"The French secret service is believed to have refused to allow Britain's MI6 to give the Americans credible intelligence showing that Iraq was trying to buy uranium ore from Niger, US intelligence sources said on Sunday. MI6 had more than one different and credible piece of intelligence to show that Iraq was attempting to buy the ore, known as yellowcake, British officials insisted. But it was given to them by at least one and possibly two intelligence services and, under the rules governing co-operation, it could not be shared with anyone else without the originator's permission," reported the Daily Telegraph.
"The cost of attacking and occupying Iraq is expected to reach US$100bil by the end of next year, raising concerns that other military needs will go unmet, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The war already has cost about US$50bil, representing a 14% increase in military spending planned for this year, the daily said. Administration officials concede that spending levels in Iraq are considerably higher than anticipated," reported the AFP news service.
"After conjoined Iranian twins died recently during surgery to separate their brains, the medical world is focused on two bright-eyed Egyptian boys who are joined at the head and likely to be the next pair to undergo the highly risky operation," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Fifty passengers furious at a 30-hour delay in their flight from Mexico to France staged a sit-on on the aircraft when it finally arrived here at the weekend to demand financial compensation from the French airline," reported the AFP news service.
"Further efforts were being made yesterday to heal a damaging rift between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his prime minister Mahmud Abbas as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took his campaign to render his arch foe Arafat irrelevant to London," reported the AFP news service.
"Dozens of protesting mothers breast-fed their babies on Sunday in front of a Brookstone store they claimed threw out a lactating mother last month. About 150 people, including fathers and supporters, blocked the entrance to the store in San Juan's Plaza las Americas, the largest shopping centre in the Caribbean, as mothers sat cross-legged while their babies suckled," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel on Sunday arrested a suspected Irish bomb maker in the West Bank and was questioning him on the extent of his contact with Palestinian militants, Israeli security sources said. British and Irish newspapers had reported earlier that a manhunt was under way for a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb maker suspected of training Palestinian militants in the West Bank," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Iraq's first post-war national political body will begin naming a Cabinet next week and will send three or four of its own to the UN Security Council to formally claim their place as Iraq's rightful government," reported the AP news agency.
"Defending his credibility, President George W. Bush said the United States made the right decision to invade Iraq and the intelligence on which he relied was darn good, even though some of it now is in question. Bush said on Monday that the United States was reviewing documents and interviewing Iraqis in an intensive effort to support the administration's still unproven claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," reported the AP news agency.
"Bush has been on the defensive since the administration acknowledged it could not document his January claim that Iraq had been trying to buy uranium in Africa to develop nuclear weapons. That claim was based on British intelligence that had been called into question by the CIA. CIA director George Tenet had accepted responsibility for not seeking removal of the statement from Bush's speech. Amid the finger-pointing over blame, the embarrassing episode forced the administration to concede it did not know the source of the British intelligence, and in fact, was not trying to determine the source," reported the AP news agency.
"Liberia's main rebel faction wants US troops to have an overwhelming presence on the ground in Liberia and wants the Americans to arrive before a West African peacekeeping force," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) protested on Monday over Ariel Sharon's boycott of the BBC during his current British tour, saying that the Israeli Prime Minister's behaviour sent a dangerous message to the Arab world on press freedom. The Brussels-based group, which represents around 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries, said Sharon had banned the British Broadcasting Corporation from taking part in his meetings with the press during his visit to London in protest over the broadcast of a documentary on Israel's nuclear programme," reported the AFP news service.
"A fatal stabbing of an Israeli man by a suspected Palestinian militant in Tel Aviv cast a new shadow over the peace process yesterday after Yasser Arafat and his prime minister Mahmoud Abbas healed a rift over the handling of talks with Israe," reported the AFP news service.
"Police across Europe have launched a huge hunt for a 12-year-old Lancashire girl and a discharged US marine who have gone on the run after chatting for a year on the Internet. A dragnet co-ordinated by Interpol is trying to pick up the trail of Toby Studabaker, 31, and Shevaun Pennington, a bright but quiet teenager, which went cold at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris three days ago," reported the Guardian.
"An Australian-led international force to bring order to strife-torn Solomon Islands will have authority to shoot to kill and enjoy immunity from prosecution, according to a law to go before the Pacific nation's parliament. The force of 2,000 troops and as many as 400 police from Australia, New Zealand and several neighbouring Pacific states is expected to arrive later this month following a plea for help from the Solomon Islands government," reported the AP news agency.
"Farmers are mailing parcels of sheep and cow manure to lawmakers to protest a so-called flatulence tax on greenhouse gas emissions from their flocks and herds. The service said about 20 reeking packages and envelopes had been sent to the nation's Parliament and the protest – dubbed the Raise a Stink campaign – was endangering the health of postal workers," reported the AP news agency.
"The cheque is not in the mail but a UN official on Monday lobbied President George W. Bush for a US$1bil interest-free loan so the United Nations could renovate its crumbling headquarters that marks the Manhattan skyline. Annan and his delegation spent a day meeting officials at the State Department, the White House and congressional leaders on Liberia, the Middle East, AIDS – and the UN capital masterplan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Evidence is growing that superinfection with more than one strain of HIV may be more common than previously thought, which could complicate efforts to make a vaccine, experts said at an international AIDS conference. Scientists reported on Monday three new cases of HIV-infected people who initially were doing well without drugs but became sick years later after contracting a second strain of the AIDS virus," reported the AP news agency.
"A man dubbed one of New Zealand's worst-ever sex offenders was jailed for a minimum of 25 years yesterday for raping four victims, including an 11-year-old girl and a pensioner aged 69," reported the dpa news agency.
"The former leader of Australia's right-wing One Nation party wept yesterday as she entered a court at the start of her election fraud trial. Pauline Hanson burst onto the political scene in 1996 with her attacks on Asian immigration and Aboriginal welfare payments, sparking controversy at home and outrage abroad," reported the AP news agency.
"More than 2,000 home Internet users have had their computers hijacked and redirected to pornographic websites, in a scheme that has security experts perplexed. Experts believe that they have traced the attack to Russian operatives of other Internet scams and suspect it is part of a money-making scam," reported the AP news agency.
"IBM Corp. announced Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings rose significantly and matched Wall Street's expectations, driven largely by strong growth in the technology services division. The company's results were sure to be closely scrutinized by investors eager for signs of a broad recovery in the high-tech sector, which saw an upbeat report the previous day from chip-making giant Intel Corp," reported the AP news agency.
"Consumer prices rose modestly in June and manufacturers boosted production by the largest amount since the beginning of the year, a pair of hopeful signs for the economy's revival," reported the AP news agency.
"Share prices fell on the London Stock Exchange Wednesday. US stocks trade lower, investors lock in profits for second day. Investors collected profits for a second straight day Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reiterated a mixed assessment of the economy. Analysts also attributed the market's pullback to earnings reports, saying that while most so far have been positive, the results haven't wowed investors," reported the AP news agency.
"Toby Studabaker, the former U.S. Marine who disappeared with a 12-year-old English girl, has been arrested in Germany, British police said Wednesday. Schoolgirl Shevaun Pennington has not been seen by her family since Saturday but spoke to her mother late Tuesday and said she was safe and still with Studabaker," reported the AP news agency.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that Iraq had sought supplies of uranium in Niger, where it had purchased tons of the substance in the 1980s," reported the AP news agency.
"Questions have been raised in Britain and the United States over the quality of intelligence used in the build up to military action against Iraq. Two parliamentary committees are probing the British government's use of intelligence information in a pair of dossiers published to bolster the case for war," reported the AP news agency.
"The government drafted a proposal Wednesday aimed at enticing Tamil rebels to resume peace talks while European and rebel negotiators tried to find ways of avoiding sea clashes that have threatened a fragile cease-fire," reported the AP news agency.
"Student Mohd Manar Bajuri is afraid that he will suffer the same fate as fellow Malaysian Mohd Abdullah Osman, who was detained by US troops in Iraq last month. He told Mohd Abdullah's father on Tuesday night that he was keen on returning to Malaysia after the detained student was released. A Wisma Putra official said there had been no news yet as to the release of Mohd Abdullah," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"The US House of Representatives voted 418-2 on Tuesday to ban imports from Myanmar, where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held by the government since May 30," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was beaten to death during or after her arrest outside a Teheran prison last month, Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said yesterday. Iran's President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday ordered four ministers to investigate Kazemi's death. Abtahi said it was still not clear whether the beating took place during her arrest last month outside Evin prison, where many dissidents are jailed, or during later interrogation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An explosion killed a US soldier in Iraq yesterday, bringing the total combat deaths to 147, equalling the total in the 1991 Gulf War. The latest death heaped pressure on US President George W. Bush, facing mounting criticism for the cost of the war and accusations the United States exaggerated intelligence on Iraq's weapons to justify the conflict," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Frequent masturbation, particularly in the 20s, helps prevent prostate cancer later in life, according to new research. Australian scientists have shown that the more men masturbate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop the disease that kills more than half a million men each year. They suspect that frequent ejaculation has a protective effect against cancer because it prevents dangerous carcinogens from building up in the gland," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US military helicopter went down in a fiery crash in the Sicilian countryside yesterday, killing at least three crew members. Italian firefighters in Sicily said three and possibly four crew members were dead, a national fire department official said on condition of anonymity," reported the AP news agency.
"The Matterhorn, Switzerland's most famous mountain, has been closed over fears that recent record heat could cause massive rockslides in peak climbing season," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Thai-born Australian resident was stabbed in the throat with a fork by a fellow passenger in an apparent dispute over seating onboard a Thai Airways flight that landed in Sydney on Wednesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment are rising in the United States, mainly due to antagonism following the Sept 11 attacks, a report said on Tuesday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Islamic civil rights group, said its office received 602 reports of discrimination against Muslims in 2002, an increase of 15% over the previous year," reported the Reuters news agency.
"CAIR Research Director Mohamed Nimer said along with an increase in the number of bias-related incidents and experiences, we have also witnessed the negative results produced by government policies that target ordinary Americans based on religion, ethnicity or national origin," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Police have dropped the case of a youth who said he was abducted from a white family and raised as a herdboy in a black township after concluding his story did not stand up," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A 68-year-old retired handyman, John Jamelske, who admitted kidnapping women and teenage girls and using them as sex slaves, was sentenced in upstate New York to 18 years to life in prison on Tuesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to block funds to a UN agency that offers family planning help to the world's poorest women, backing US President George W. Bush, who said the agency supported China's policy of coerced abortions. In a victory for abortion foes, the House voted 216-211 to approve an amendment that would strip funds for the UN Population Fund from a Bill to authorise next year's State Department programmes," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The government of the West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe has been toppled in a military coup. Prime Minister Maria das Neves and several other ministers were reported by the Portuguese news agency Lusa as being in the hands of the military after shots were heard in the capital Sao Tome," reported the dpa news agency.
"British 12-year-old schoolgirl Shevaun Pennington was safely returned to her parents yesterday, five days after running away to Paris with a former US marine she met over the Internet. The marine, 31-year-old Toby Studabaker, had been arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, on charges of abduction. Studabaker's arrest came after police sources revealed that child pornography had been downloaded from the Internet on to a computer used by the former soldier," reported the AFP news service.
"Rome is considering water rations. London will reward anyone who can invent an air-conditioning system for the sweltering Tube. In Paris, the city's fountains have become wading pools. Summertime has arrived with a vengeance in parts of Europe, forcing dehydrated tourists to run for cover as officials from England to Romania scramble to limit the damage from drought and high heat," reported the AP news agency.
"Philippine police filed a criminal complaint yesterday against four guards over the escape of three terror suspects from a high-security detention centre as the manhunt extended across three countries," reported the AP news agency.
"China will begin trimming its 2.5 million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) this month in an effort to make the world's biggest army leaner and meaner. The speedy US military victory in Iraq this year reminded China how much room there was to streamline and modernise its armed forces," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The self-confessed Bali bomber Imam Samudra denied yesterday he was the one who originally picked the Indonesian resort island as a terror target but admitted he was disgusted by the behaviour of foreign tourists there. Samudra, answering questions from both judges and prosecutors, said he was obliged to wage war against infidels who oppress Muslims wherever they are," reported the AFP news service.
"Thailand will ban imports of Arabian hookah pipes and shisha tobacco mix after smoking the water pipes became the latest craze in Bangkok nightspots, the health ministry said yesterday. Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said hookah-pipe smoking would harm Thai people's health and make it easier for young people to become addicted to the fashionable new forms of tobacco," reported the AFP news service.
"Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, known as China's Silicon Valley for both domestic and overseas high-tech enterprises, is set to become more environment-friendly with a planned ecological office district (EOD)," reported the China Daily.
"A homemade bomb exploded at a hospital in southern Pakistan yesterday, injuring at least seven people," reported the AP news agency.
"India's old-era music icons are complaining that their popular work is being stolen _ through re-orchestrations or mixing with new songs in Bollywood, an industry short on original ideas. India's bustling movie industry, widely known as "Bollywood,'' annually churns out more than 800 films, watched by millions across the world. Bollywood's reach is second only to Hollywood. But critics say there is little that is original in today's Bollywood. Stories, characters, even frames in several movies have for years been copied from Hollywood," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday forcefully defended their decision to topple Saddam Hussein, dismissing criticism that no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have been found," reported the AP news agency.
"The prime minister suggested that history will forgive the toppling of Saddam's government even if it turns out that Blair and Bush were wrong about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The president added that American and British intelligence made a clear and compelling case that Saddam Hussein was a threat to security and peace," reported the AP news agency.
"Australian-led peacekeepers would arrive on July 24 to the strife-ridden Solomon Islands if its lawmakers authorise their intervention. Last week lawmakers unanimously approved an invitation for the intervention force. It is not clear when the formal vote on the Bill will take place," reported the Reuters news agency.
"German prosecutors have established no grounds to charge a former US marine with the intent to sexually abuse a 12-year-old British girl he fled to France with last weekend. The spokeswoman added that Studabaker was not suspected of a more serious charge of child abduction with intent to commit sexual abuse," reported the AFP news service.
"Fed up with being in Iraq and demoralised by their role as peacekeepers in a risky place, a group of US soldiers aired their plight on US television on Wednesday and said they had lost faith in the army. Told several times they would be going home only to have their hopes dashed this week, a small group of soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq spoke of poor morale and disillusionment with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld," reported the Reuters news agency.
"At a Pentagon briefing later, US Central Command head Gen John Abizaid said none of [soldiers who] wear this uniform is free to say anything disparaging about the Secretary of Defence or the President of the United States. He said it's very unfortunate that soldiers, professional soldiers, made comments like that. He also said troops who criticised Rumsfeld in comments to reporters face possible verbal reprimand or something more stringent from their commanders," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A survey of opinion in Baghdad found a majority of Iraqis interviewed believe US and British troops should stay in Iraq for at least a year, a British television channel reported on Wednesday. Pollsters You.Gov, commissioned by Channel 4 and The Spectator magazine, said it tried to sample a broad spectrum of men and women from different religious groups and economic backgrounds in various neighborhoods, but acknowledged the poll was not taken under the usual scientific conditions," reported the AP news agency.
"An audiotape purportedly to be of Saddam Hussein was played over Arabic television yesterday, the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist revolution, with the ex-dictator criticizing the newly formed Iraqi Governing Council, saying US President George W. Bush is a liar, and calling for resistance to the US occupation," reported the AP news agency.
"The voice on the tape lashed out at Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying they tricked their own people to justify the war in Iraq. What will they say to their people and to mankind? What will the chorus of lies say to those that backed them? said the voice. What will they say to the world after they devised the scenario of lies against Iraq's people, leadership and culture?," reported the AP news agency.
"CIA director George Tenet told a Senate panel he was not personally informed that a speech by President George W. Bush contained disputed intelligence about Iraq's nuclear ambitions even though his agency took responsibility for it, The Washington Post said yesterday. However, the embattled head of the Central Intelligence Agency in closed-door testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee said he took responsibility for Bush's controversial statement because a CIA official had approved it, lawmakers told the daily," reported the AFP news service.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair was expected to urge close US ally President George W. Bush yesterday to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to put the country back on its feet. In a rare address by a foreign leader to a joint session of Congress in Washington, Blair will also warn that without a lasting Middle East peace settlement, terrorism would never be defeated," reported the Reuters news agency.
