"Weapons expert David Kelly apparently killed himself by slashing his left wrist, police confirmed yesterday in a case that has plunged the British government deeper into controversy over the intelligence used to justify war in Iraq. Kelly's death dramatically increased Prime Minister Tony Blair's difficulties in explaining why no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, when this was the heart of his case for military action," reported the AP news agency.
"The White House released excerpts from a classified intelligence document dated October last year to show how flawed intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons ambitions wound up in a speech by President George W. Bush. The document cites compelling evidence of such a programme – but it also reflects pre-war divisions within the US intelligence community, including a State Department dismissal of reports that Saddam Hussein was shopping for uranium ore in Africa as highly dubious," reported the AP news agency.
"The Bush administration released the material – a sanitised version of the top-secret National Intelligence Estimate prepared for the president – as it sought to shield Bush from rising criticism that he misled the public in making his case for war with Iraq in his Jan 28 speech," reported the AP news agency.
"Attackers firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades killed a US soldier in Baghdad yesterday as Washington considered asking the United Nations to help restore order in Iraq and contain a guerilla insurgency," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In his first major report on post-war Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Iraqis did not want democracy imposed by outsiders and rated lawlessness as their main concern. He made clear that a UN role would exclude responsibility for law and order," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Italian journalist said in an interview published yesterday that she gave documents on Iraq seeking uranium from Niger to the US embassy in Rome last year to try to find out if the information was credible. She said after checks in Niger failed to satisfy her that the documents were reliable," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinian gunmen abducted the governor of the West Bank city of Jenin yesterday after he tried to crack down on their militant group, but freed him five hours later on President Yasser Arafat's orders. The abduction highlighted Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' difficulties reining in militants under a US-backed peace plan, and underlining Arafat's continuing influence with such groups," reported the Reuters news agency.
"College officials are struggling to meet an Aug 1 deadline to register all foreign students with federal authorities under post-Sept 11 security laws, but they complain many innocent foreigners could be denied an American education or even be deported due to computer glitches in the registration system," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said he expected to receive from Israeli leader Ariel Sharon yesterday a list of prisoners Israel planned to release in a bid to shore up a Middle East peace plan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Heated talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas yesterday ended without a commitment from Israel to release more Palestinian prisoners in a meeting dominated by the continued siege of Yasser Arafat," reported the AFP news service.
"Strong evidence has emerged that North Korea may have built a second, secret plant for producing weapons-grade plutonium, The New York Times reported on its website on Saturday. Citing US and Asian officials with access to the latest intelligence, the newspaper said the potential discovery could complicate both the diplomatic strategy for ending the programme and the military options if that diplomacy failed," reported the AFP news service.
"Mortar and gunfire rocked the war-battered Liberian capital Monrovia early yesterday after a night of fighting as the United States urged advancing rebels to hold their fire and return to peace talks. A fragile month-old ceasefire in a ruinous four-year rebel war lay in tatters as steady shelling and gunfire punctuated the night in the seaside capital, but the intensity decreased after dawn in the Mamba Point district where several embassies and humanitarian organisations are based," reported the AFP news service.
"Iran equipped its elite revolutionary guards yesterday with a locally made ballistic missile – the Shahab-3 – capable of reaching Israel and US forces stationed in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The missile was officially inaugurated during a military parade before Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is in charge of the country's armed forces. The missile's inauguration also comes as the United States accuses Iran of working to build nuclear weapons. Teheran denies the claims, saying its nuclear programme is for electricity production, not weapons making," reported the AP news agency.
"An Australian-led intervention force will be able to use lethal force if faced with life-threatening situations in the lawless and near-bankrupt Solomon Islands, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday. He said he had settled the rules of engagement for the 2,000-strong force of police, troops and civilian administrators on Friday. Australia's national security committee is due to meet tomorrow to formally approve the deployment," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A dozen unidentified American tourists on their way to a game reserve and two South African pilots died when their chartered aircraft ploughed into Mount Kenya," reported the AP news agency.
"Nelson Mandela celebrated a star-studded 85th birthday on Saturday, partying with former US president Bill Clinton, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and hundreds of well-wishers. The former South African president joined Irish rock star Bono and former archbishop Desmond Tutu at a banquet for 1,600 people to celebrate his July 18 birthday, marked across South Africa as a day to hailMadiba– the tribal name by which the anti-apartheid hero is known to millions of South Africans," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Fancy living another 100 years or more? Some experts said on Saturday that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last decades beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span. Outside the conference, many scientists who specialise in aging were sceptical of such claims and said the human body was just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they said failure of the brain and other organs will eventually condemn all humans," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Some of the 16 Afghan prisoners freed after nearly two years in a US military jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said on Saturday that their American captors beat them – but others said they were not mistreated. A US military spokesman at Guantanamo Bay denied the claims of abuse," reported the AP news agency.
"A Pakistani man released from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba filed suit yesterday against the United States for US$10.4mil in compensation for the torture and humiliation he faced in detention. Mohammad Sagheer, the first Pakistani to be released from the maximum security, open-air Camp X-Ray prison on a US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, said his detention was illegal and immoral,and spoke of being held in a freezing cell for a week during his interrogation," reported the AFP news service.
"Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed and one was injured in an ambush early yesterday when their convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in northern Iraq, the US military said. The deaths brought to 151 the number of American soldiers killed in action since the March 20 start of the war, four more than the total killed in the 1991 Gulf War," reported the AP news agency.
"Foreign ministers from Asia and Europe are expected to urge Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seek further cooperation in the war against terrorism when they meet in Bali later this week," reported the AP news agency.
"An Iraqi, who claimed that he was with Malaysian student Mohd Abdullah Osman before the latter was detained by US troops in Iraq, has been picked up by police in Kuala Lumpur for allegedly trying to extort money from the student’s family," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"French president Jacques Chirac, who is arriving this evening, will receive the inaugural Kuala Lumpur World Peace Award from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Chirac was a unanimous choice due to his unflinching opposition to the US-led military strike against Iraq and for his courage in standing up for the oppressed," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Heavy fighting engulfed the Liberian capital yesterday, killing at least 70 people as mortars pounded the city in an all-out battle between rebels and the forces of President Charles Taylor. During two hours of continuous mortar fire, one shell killed 25 Liberians when it hit an American diplomatic compound where at least 10,000 people have taken refuge, across the street from the sprawling US Embassy complex overlooking the Atlantic shore," reported the AP news agency.
"Liberia's war-battered capital here was relatively calm early yesterday after government troops pushed back rebels trying to seize two key bridges, as the United States ordered extra troops into the city. Washington despatched 35 soldiers here in early June, when fighting moved perilously close to the American mission. But there was no indication US President George W. Bush was any closer to making a decision on US participation in a peacekeeping force being considered for Liberia," reported the AFP news service.
"An Australian warship left for the lawless Solomon Islands yesterday carrying the first contingent of a 2,000-strong force of troops and police hoping to restore order to the near-bankrupt South Pacific nation. The 8,500-tonne HMAS Manoora transport ship would act as a floating command post, hospital and supply base for the Australian-led peacekeepers, whose deployment was approved last week by the Solomon Islands parliament," reported the news Agencies.
"Coup leaders on the West African islands of Sao Tome and Principe released senior government officials late on Sunday, paving the way for an end to the bloodless military takeover," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iran denied yesterday that its new ballistic missile that brings Israel within range of the Islamic republic was a threat to the region. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told journalists that all of their weapons are defensive and deterrent, adding that the Islamic republic does not threaten other countries, as the past 25 years have shown," reported the AFP news service.
"Russia's top Asia expert warned on Monday that a nuclear standoff between the United States and North Korea could get hot and urged the two countries to start talks as soon as possible," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel agreed to free hundreds more Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, disappointing Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's hopes for a full amnesty but keeping a US-backed peace road map in motion," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Senior lawyers and a magistrate hearing charges in a prominent sex crime case were fighting for their credibility yesterday after pictures were published of the trio wearing fake breasts and tinsel wigs," reported the AP news agency.
"British novelist and disgraced politician Jeffrey Archer was freed on parole yesterday after serving half of a four-year jail sentence for lying in a libel case over a prostitute," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australian police were hunting yesterday for thieves who took a rare 110 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton from a museum exhibition," reported the AFP news service.
"The Australian Cattle Council will substitute the Japanese flag's rising sun with a piece of beef in an advertising campaign to protest increased Japanese tariffs on Australian beef," reported the AFP news service.
"Four young women were murdered in one night in Moscow last weekend, sparking media speculation yesterday about a serial killer at large in the Russian capital with 10 females killed since late June," reported the AFP news service.
"Six Russian soldiers were killed and six injured in a gunfight with a band of Chechen guerillas near the town of Dyshne-Vedeno in Chechnya," reported the AFP news service.
"Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had arrested a group of militants planning terrorist attacks against Saudi targets and seized large amounts of arms and explosives," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A separatist group claimed responsibility yesterday for a spate of weekend bombings on the French-ruled Mediterranean island of Corsica and in the city of Nice on France's southern Riviera coast," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council met yesterday to discuss naming ministers, in a further step towards recovery, as another US soldier and an Iraqi translator were killed in an attack in Baghdad. But an attack on US troops in the north of the capital left one soldier and an Iraqi dead in what a military spokesman described as an improvised explosive attack together with small arms fire, again undermining coalition efforts," reported the AFP news service.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered huge political damage as a result of the death of an arms expert at the centre of a row over whether the government sexed up evidence on Iraq, a poll said yesterday. Four months on, both Blair and Bush are suffering political fallout from the fact no convincing proof had been uncovered that Baghdad had such weapons," reported the AFP news service.
"Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were killed in a six-hour firefight Tuesday when "U.S. forces, acting on a tip from an Iraqi informant, surrounded and then stormed a palatial villa in this northern Iraqi city, claims US general, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. The United States had offered a US$25 million reward for information leading to Saddam's capture and US$15 million each for his sons. Asked if the United States would pay the US$15 million rewards, Sanchez said [he] would expect that it probably will happen," reported the AP news agency.
"US troops may have killed Saddam Hussein's two sons Uday and Qusay in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday in a four-hour battle at a villa. Declining to comment on speculation that Saddam's sons were the target, division spokesman Major Trey Cate said four high-value targets were found dead when soldiers went into the house after the battle," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Tokyo stocks opened higher Wednesday following solid gains by U.S. technology stocks overnight. The dollar was lower against the Japanese yen," reported the AP news agency.
"A real estate investor, Zell Kravinsky, 48, who has given away much of his fortune donated a kidney to a stranger Tuesday, saying it was the moral thing to do. The hospital declined to release details about the recipient, but Kravinsky specified that he wanted the kidney to go to someone who was poor and black. Kravinsky is white. He said [he's] gotten into fights with a lot of friends about this. [His] wife has threatened to divorce [him] if [he goes] through with it. [He doesn't] want her to leave [him], but [he has] to do this," reported the AP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied yesterday that he personally approved the naming of defence expert David Kelly as the source of allegations that his government exaggerated the case for war against Iraq," reported the AFP news agency.
"In an indication of how damaging the controversy has been for Blair, an ICM survey found that 54% of British voters are unhappy with his performance as prime minister. The poll also showed the Labour party's lead over the opposition Conservatives has narrowed to just two points, compared with a 12 point advantage in a similar poll two months ago," reported the AFP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday he had no regrets over the war on Iraq despite questions about its justification after the death of a British scientist," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Hours before the United Nations Security Council was set to meet to discuss Iraq yesterday, another US soldier was killed in an ambush, while the European Union said it would take part in a multilateral reconstruction effort provided the UN is also involved," reported the AFP news agency.
"Finding the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that President George W. Bush cited as his main justification for going to war is now a secondary issue, says Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. In an interview on Monday night aboard an Air Force jet en route to Washington following a five-day tour of Iraq, Wolfowitz said the task of settling the weapons question is in the hands of US intelligence agencies," reported the AP news agency.
"The Secret Service is studying a pro-Bush cartoon in the Los Angeles Times, showing the president with a gun to his head, as a possible threat. Cartoonist Michael Ramirez said the drawing, which ran in Sunday's paper, was only meant to call attention to the unjust political assassination of Bush over his Iraq policy. The White House later disavowed that statement, saying it was based on faulty documents," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Two out of every three Australians believe Prime Minister John Howard misled them over participation in the US-led war in Iraq - just 25% of respondents said they did not feel they had been misled - but support for his leadership and government remains as strong as ever," reported the AFP news agency.
"Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had dealt another heavy blow to the al-Qaeda network with the arrest of 16 more militants, vowing not to rest until it has cleaned up the kingdom of any remaining terror cells," reported the AFP news agency.
"The US Justice Department is conducting 14 investigations into alleged abuses and mistreatment of post-Sept 11 detainees, including a charge that a guard used a Muslim inmate's shirt to polish his shoes, according to a new government report. The cases, detailed by the department's inspector general on Monday, range from accusations of use of excessive force, verbal abuse, religious insensitivities to illegal searches by the Federal Bureau of Investigation," reported the AFP news agency.
"But the investigated cases represent only a tiny fraction of the total number of 1,073 civil rights complaints received by US authorities from people imprisoned under the Patriot Act adopted in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, according to the document made public," reported the AFP news agency.
"A Kenyan court yesterday gave police two weeks to produce evidence against five people charged with murder over a suicide bombing at an Israeli-owned hotel near the coastal city of Mombasa last year. Nairobi's chief magistrate Aggrey Muchelule said the five had a right to a speedy trial because they were not eligible for bail. The defence complained about the lack of progress in the trial and urged the court to release the defendants, who were once again remanded in custody," reported the AFP news agency.
"US officials have proposed meeting with North Korean officials in Beijing and are considering offering the communist state guarantees that it will not come under attack from the United States. US officials have proposed meeting with North Korean officials in Beijing and are considering offering the communist state guarantees that it will not come under attack from the United States," reported the AFP news agency.
"Liberia said yesterday more than 600 civilians had been killed in a rebel onslaught on the capital and called for an arms embargo to be lifted so government troops could rebuff the attacks. Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea said the soaring death toll in Monrovia had thrown into doubt pledges by President Charles Taylor to quit the West African nation once peacekeeping troops arrived," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Liberian rebels said yesterday they had ordered their forces to halt a blistering onslaught on this capital, and a top government soldier said the insurgents were being driven back," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin remained in critical condition yesterday, in a coma and on a life-support machine in a hospital in Jeddah. Idi Amin, a Muslim now in his eighties, was admitted to hospital on Friday," reported the AFP news agency.
"A Solomon Islands rebel leader, Harold Keke, who describes himself as 'General' of the Guadalcanal Liberation Front (GLF), blamed for a string of murders and kidnappings in the Pacific nation said yesterday he welcomed the arrival of an Australian-led intervention force. The Australian-led intervention force, which is due to arrive here Thursday, was welcome as long as its first priority is to disarm the militants in Honiara and get rid of corrupt politicians," reported the AFP news agency.
"The Austrian surgeon who led the world's first tongue transplant said yesterday the operation appears to have been a success and said the patient was recovering well four days after the 14-hour procedure. However, Dr Rolf Ewers, chairman of the Vienna's University Hospital of Cranio-Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, who led the team of surgeons, said there was still a risk the tongue would be rejected," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Coldplay singer Chris Martin has been charged by Australian police with malicious damage following an altercation at a beach resort," reported the Rueters news agency.
"A fire broke out yesterday evening at the Eiffel Tower here, fire-fighters said, with clouds of smoke seen billowing into the sky. A police official said the entire tower was immediately evacuated, and there were apparently no injuries," reported the AFP news agency.
"Men in western India are thinking twice before downing one more for the road, after a group of housewives in one village began stripping and thrashing drunk husbands in public, it was reported yesterday. This successful formula is now being copied by other villages," reported the dpa news agency.
"The raising of Congo's national flag in two rebel strongholds is a sign the five-year civil war may be nearing an end, a rebel official said. Troops raised the flag in Goma and in Bukavu on Tuesday even as sporadic tribal fighting continues in parts of the country," reported the AP news agency.
"Russian president Vladimir Putin has confirmed his visit to Kuala Lumpur on Aug 5 and may be coming with a larger delegation. Russian Ambassador to Malaysia Vladimir Morozov said Putin would address the Malaysia-Russia Business Forum jointly organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute, Russia-Asean Co-operation Fund and the embassy in the morning," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Nearly 40 Chinese refugees who fled their homeland 10 years ago aboard the Golden Venture freighter will not be deported while they seek amnesty from Congress, a federal immigration official said Wednesday. That protection, while temporary, marked a major victory for the 38 refugees, who have lived in daily fear of being sent back to China as they apply to become permanent U.S. residents," reported the AP news agency.
"The top US commander in Iraq, Lt-Gen Ricardo Sanchez, told a news conference that dental records, X-rays and four former senior figures from the Saddam regime helped establish certainty that the two sons were killed in the four-hour gunbattle. Meanwhile, an audiotape, broadcast by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV channel, attributed to Saddam warned that the war against the US-led coalition was not over and called for Iraqis to continue their resistance," reported the news Agencies.
"The US administration is wrong to think that the murders of Saddam Hussein's sons or of Saddam will bring an end to the armed resistance against the occupation, Egyptian political analyst Mustafa Kamel al-Said said, arguing that the reasons for antagonism remain, there is no foreseeable withdrawal of US troops, living conditions are still bad, and the Americans are vetoing any political forces they deem unacceptable," reported the AFP news service.
"The man whose tip-off led to the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons was yesterday under American protection, apparently with a US$30mil bounty under his belt, the US military said. Col Joe Anderson said the informant was under protection but declined to confirm local suspicions that he was tribal chief Nawaf Mohammed al-Zaidan, owner of the mansion where Uday and Qusay Hussein made their last stand. A relative of Zaidan and another neighbour, Ahmed Habel, said they believed Zaidan tipped off the Americans," reported the AFP news service.
"Britain's public broadcaster the BBC revealed yesterday it had a tape in which an arms expert, whose apparent suicide sparked a political crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair, voices concern at the government's handling of intelligence to justify war on Iraq. The tape recording of a conversation between arms expert David Kelly and Susan Watts, science editor of the BBC's Newsnight current affairs programme, was expected to be submitted to a judicial inquiry into Kelly's death," reported the AFP news service.
"Iran announced yesterday it was holding top members of the al-Qaeda terror group and will hunt down any others, days after US President George W. Bush accused it of harbouring terrorists," reported the AP news agency.
"US counterterrorism officials do not believe press reports that al-Zawahri is in Iran, saying he is instead with Osama somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Officials have not commented on whether they believe Abu Ghaith, al-Qaeda's spokesman, is in Iran. The White House on Monday repeated its accusations that Iran and Syria are harbouring terrorists, a charge both Teheran and Damascus deny," reported the AP news agency.
"The first wave of an Australian-led intervention force will land on a famous Solomon Islands beach here today to launch an operation aimed at restoring peace in the troubled Pacific state," reported the AFP news service.
"Deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley is taking the blame for allowing a tainted intelligence report that suggested Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa to find its way into President George W. Bush's State of the Union address. Bush aides said the president was upset by Hadley's failure to come forward with the CIA objections, but turned down what amounted to an offer by Hadley to resign. Bush has full confidence in his national security team, including Hadley and Tenet," reported the AP news agency.
"Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has come out of a coma and his condition is improving. Hospital officials refused to specify the exact cause of Idi Amin's illness or provide details about his condition," reported the AFP news service.
"International space station cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko may have promised the Russian space agency to cancel his plan to get married while in orbit, but as far as the bride is concerned the wedding is on," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinians warned yesterday that the peace process could come to a dead-end after an Israeli ministerial commission reportedly ruled out the immediate release of any members of the hardline Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements," reported the AFP news service.
"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said Israeli soldiers, motivated mainly by vindictiveness, commit daily human rights abuses against Palestinians with the army's tacit approval and are rarely investigated," reported the Rueters news agency.
"An Israeli antique dealer was arrested on suspicion of forging the James ossuary and a tablet alleged to date back to the 9th century BC, both recently exposed as fakes. If it had been authentic, it would have provided the first non-biblical proof of the existence of the first Temple of Jerusalem, which has yet to be confirmed by any archaeological evidence," reported the AFP news service.
"The Eiffel Tower reopened yesterday after an electrical fire broke out the night before near the top of the Paris landmark, forcing thousands of alarmed visitors to evacuate," reported the AP news agency.
"Clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades, Massachusetts' attorney-general Tom Reilly said yesterday, calling the scandal so massive it borders on the unbelievable," reported the AP news agency.
"The 91-page report for the attorney-general's office, the result of a grand jury investigation that explored whether church hierarchy should be charged criminally for turning a blind eye to allegations of abuse, said the archdiocese received complaints from 789 alleged victims, involving more than 250 clergy and other workers," reported the AP news agency.
