"Libya has taken the blame for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and vowed to fight terrorism in a drive to convince the international community that the deadly midair blast was part of its past," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Power and subway services were restored here early yesterday, shortly after the US and Canada announced a joint inquiry into the cause of the blackout that crippled a vast swathe of the north-eastern US and Canada. But the impact of the largest power outage in North American history was still being felt in many areas," reported the AFP news service.
"Britain's headline-grabbing claim before the Iraq war that Baghdad could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes was based on second-hand information, the Guardian reported yesterday. The left-wing daily said the revelation that the 45-minute assertion was hearsay was contained in an internal Foreign Office document released to a judicial inquiry probing the suspected suicide of a government arms expert at the centre of a row of how Britain went to war," reported the AFP news service.
"Time-honoured spit and polish took on an unexpected shine on Friday as London Underground said staff would be provided with DNA test kits to discourage bad behaviour from spiteful passengers. The move came after some 100 incidents were recorded last year where passengers literally spat out their anger at London Underground (LU) staff. A spate of technical incidents has been causing serious disruption to the network over the past two years," reported the AFP news service.
"Antonella Santini, the exotic dancer featured in salacious National Enquirer stories that purported to detail a sexual encounter she had with actress Jennifer Lopez' fiance, Ben Affleck, has sued the tabloid, saying she never had sex with the Gigli actor. But the Enquirer, which published two articles about Affleck's visit to Brandi's all-nude club in Vancouver, British Columbia, and his alleged encounter with Santini, says it is standing by its story," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Actor Tom Sizemore faces up to four years in prison for his conviction on misdemeanour charges of harassing, annoying and physically abusing former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. But a jury on Friday acquitted the 41-year-old star of Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan of 10 other counts," reported the AP news agency.
"Onetime Diff'rent Strokes child star Gary Coleman, 35, and porn actress Mary Carey, 22, will be among five colourful gubernatorial candidates appearing on Who Wants To Be Governor of California? The Debating Game. The Game Show Network on Friday revealed it had picked the pair from among 135 candidates running for the troubled state's top job to hold a lively on-air debate ahead of the Oct 7 polls," reported the AFP news service.
"Movie tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger was on Friday wooing a Hollywood cast to help him become California's governor, as the troubled incumbent lost ground in his battle to stay in power. Sources close to the Republican Terminator star's campaign indicated that he was courting screen heartthrob Rob Lowe, a Democrat, as an adviser and public frontman for his campaign to replace Governor Gray Davis," reported the AFP news service.
"Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was the target of boos, bottles, sticks, eggs and bags of garbage during a visit to Arequipa, Peru's second-largest city, according to local press reports. Demonstrators pelted Toledo as he left a Roman Catholic mass during an official visit to Arequipa," reported the AFP news service.
"Who wants to marry my daughter? That's not the latest reality TV dating game, but rather a sign planted on Donna Wood's front lawn in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Wood is seeking a soul mate for her 22-year-old daughter Karah, whose romantic choices over the years have left much to be desired. Today, she will screen applicants, who are required to pitch up with an essay and a headshot, and will pick 10. After interviews, criminal checks and time with the family, the winner will be chosen by Woods, her husband and two friends," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Saudi police have arrested 21 terror suspects and seized large quantities of arms and ammunition in a raid at a house in the southern province of Jizan. Ten of those arrested are Saudi citizens while the remaining 11 are Bangladeshis, believed to have been working for a local company and staying in the same building," reported the AFP news service.
"Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, blamed for the murder of tens of thousands of his people in the 1970s, died yesterday in a Saudi hospital where he had been critically ill for weeks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In one of the most significant changes to Afghanistan's post-Taliban administration, the powerful governor of southern Kandahar relinquished his authority to his replacement in a quiet ceremony yesterday. The handover was part of a series of changes made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier this week in what was seen as a major step to rein in regional warlords and assert the authority of the federal government to the provinces," reported the AP news agency.
"Security sources said on Friday that Israel had agreed to permit Arafat to make one trip lasting several hours to Gaza to pay final respects to a sister who died this week and was buried in the territory. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat wants international guarantees of safe return before accepting an Israeli offer to leave the West Bank for a brief visit to Gaza," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US forces entered a remote Afghan village recently to hunt Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels, locals hurriedly hid their Qurans in a sack. Baffled soldiers who discovered the copies of Islam’s holy book asked an elder what was happening. He told them that villagers feared they would be killed merely for being Muslims," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The misunderstanding underlines the depth of confusion and mistrust caused by foreign troops in Afghanistan, particularly in rural areas in the south and east where the coalition is most active in its hunt for terrorists," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In many cases that mistrust has turned to hatred, as aggressive search tactics and a general sense among Muslims of being under siege plays into the hands of the very people the US military is trying to wipe out," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The planned Israeli handover of two West bank towns to Palestinian control hit a setback Sunday, when Israeli and Palestinian security officials failed to finalize terms for the transfer. Spokesman Elias Zananiri said the talks on the handover of Jericho and Qalqiliya stalled over Israel's insistence that even after Palestinian security forces take over responsibilty for the towns, the Israeli army will retain roadblocks controlling movement in and out," reported the AP news agency.
"Liberians filled churches in the ravaged capital to pray that West African and American troops there maintain a lasting peace. With rebels making a key concession at peace talks, there was new hope they will," reported the AP news agency.
"Suspected rebels attacked a village in northwest Colombia as President Alvaro Uribe arrived in a helicopter Sunday. No one was hurt in the attack," reported the AP news agency.
"Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called on Muslim nations to unite and manage their internal affairs well to fortify themselves against possible invasion and colonisation. The Prime Minister, who is on a two-day official visit to Syria, said the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq should serve as a loud wake-up call for Muslims countries to mend their ways. He warned that even now, several more Islamic countries were being threatened or targeted by the West for a regime change," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"A failure to contain problems with three transmission lines in northern Ohio just south of Cleveland was the likely trigger of America's biggest power blackout, a leading investigator said. Experts are working to understand why the local line disruptions, some of which occurred an hour before the blackout reached its peak, were not isolated, allowing a cascade of power system shutdowns stretching from Michigan to New York City and into Canada," reported the AP news agency.
"Among the things yet to be determined is the relationship between lines tripping in Ohio and the unusual power swings that were observed in lines leaving Michigan and going into Canada and then back again, according to investigators," reported the AP news agency.
"The blackout that hit New York City on Thursday and Friday forced residents and shops to discard tons of perishable food, but innovation often prevailed. But some restaurants – through ingenuity, mountains of ice and generators – managed to salvage enough food to organise free, impromptu street feasts," reported the AFP news service.
"When Bettie Lloyd goes back to her 11th floor office today, she just might take the stairs. The Detroit Board of Education auditor spent nearly 19 hours of the North-east blackout stuck alone in a hot, dark elevator in the 75-year-old Fisher Building. Firefighters rescued her on Friday after someone finally heeded her pleas for help," reported the AP news agency.
"For many Ugandans, the death of former dictator Idi Amin severed the last link to an era best forgotten: eight years of brutal rule defined by the deaths of up to 300,000 people and the memory of thousands of hastily disposed bodies floating in Lake Victoria. He never expressed remorse and whiled away his later years fishing and taking strolls on the beach in Saudi Arabia," reported the AP news agency.
"Explorers believe they have found the sunken remains of an 1860s steamer that could yield the richest cargo ever recovered from a shipwreck: thousands of gold coins worth as much as US$180mil. The S.S. Republic was carrying 59 passengers and 20,000 US$20 gold coins from New York to New Orleans when it sank in a hurricane off Savannah, Georgia, on Oct 25, 1865, according to newspaper accounts and other historical records," reported the AP news agency.
"Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told thousands of supporters on Saturday that he would be guilty of treason if he didn't fight to keep a 2,385kg monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the state judicial building. Todd Kinley, a research scientist from Huntsville participating in the counter-protest, said he personally believes in science and reason and the only way ...[to] have freedom of religion is to have separation of church and state," reported the AP news agency.
"Italian police on Saturday seized some 40,000 toys and other gadgets, including about 1,000 water yo-yos which the Health Ministry has said could be harmful," reported the AP news agency.
"A Norwegian accidentally shot and wounded six of his friends at a surprise party to celebrate his 40th birthday. He blasted off one round in the air, meaning it as a joke to shock the partygoers. But when he came out from his hiding place, he tripped and the gun went off again, badly hurting one woman in the legs and slightly injuring five others," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A major water pipeline in northern Baghdad was breached yesterday, flooding nearby streets and cutting off supply to parts of the Iraqi capital, after what locals said was a bomb attack. Sabotage of fuel pipelines, power cables and water pipes has dogged attempts by the US-led administration to rebuild Iraq's decrepit oil industry and restore basic services. The main oil export pipeline to Turkey – a crucial economic lifeline for Iraq – was shut down last week just days after reopening, following technical hitches and a bomb attack that sparked a fire," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A fresh wave of sabotage and violence took its toll on Iraq yesterday as a second blaze hit a crucial oil export pipeline, a water pipeline was blown up and six Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack on a Baghdad prison. A Danish soldier was also killed as he tried to stop looting on Saturday night," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iran announced for the first time yesterday that it had foiled planned al-Qaeda attacks on its soil, in what was widely seen as a move to prepare public opinion for trials of leaders of the Islamic militant network by the Iranian courts. The secretary of Iran's top security body, Hassan Rohani, gave few details of the plots he said security forces had uncovered," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of insurgents in a convoy of trucks attacked a police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, triggering a gunbattle yesterday that killed 22 people, officials said. It was one of the largest shows of anti-government force in over a year. The fierce fighting in Paktika province was the latest in a wave of violence that has underscored just how unstable Afghanistan still is after US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001," reported the AP news agency.
"The threat of a terrorist attack at an upcoming summit of Asian leaders to be attended by US President George W. Bush has not ended with the arrest of alleged terror mastermind Hambali," reported the AP news agency.
"President Megawati Sukarnoputri has urged US President George W. Bush to allow Indonesian investigators to question a top terror suspect over his role in attacks in Jakarta, Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda said yesterday," reported the news Agencies.
"The growing number of pregnant Chinese teenagers - once shunned because of the shame they brought to their families - are finding new avenues for professional and safe help and advice. The Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital of Chengdu, capital of the southwest Sichuan Province, has launched a special service for pregnant teenagers, offering free abortion operations to girls aged 18 or below," reported the AP news agency.
"Parents traditionally preach caution or abstinence, but young people are being influenced by depictions of sex on television and the Internet. As a result, unprotected sex among adolescents is becoming more common. Chen said a huge number of pregnant girls call in for help, but very few come in because the law strictly requires underage girls seeking an abortion to be accompanied by a legal guardian," reported the AP news agency.
"Hit by one of its worst-ever economic slumps, Singapore has promised sweeping changes in how it does business - but no surprises in the way it conducts politics. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong says he'll step down within a few years to make way for his current deputy, Lee Hsien Loong, the son of the city-state's still-influential founding father Lee Kuan Yew," reported the AP news agency.
"Foreigners who want to participate in a lottery for immigrant visas must now do so online. The U.S. State Department announced Monday it would no longer accept mailed or paper applications for the diversity visa lottery, an option for foreigners who are not eligible for visas through business or family ties. Applications filed electronically will cost the department less, reduce duplicate filings and be more reliable for some applicants than their home country mail service," reported the AP news agency.
"Researchers slipped billions of copies of a gene into the brain of a Parkinson's disease patient Monday, marking the first attempt to test gene therapy in a person with that disease," reported the AP news agency.
"About one in every 37 US adults was either imprisoned at the end of 2001 or had been jailed at one time, the government says. The 5.6 million people with “prison experience” represented about 2.7% of the adult population of 210 million as of Dec 31, 2001, said the report released on Sunday," reported the AP news agency.
"Between 1974 and 2001, the number of current and former inmates rose by 3.8 million, the study found. Of those, 2.7 million were former inmates. Experts said the growing number of ex-prisoners meant more people in society have difficulty finding jobs because of their felony convictions. Many cannot vote and are more likely to have family or emotional problems that exact a toll on state and local government budgets," reported the AP news agency.
"North America began a new work week yesterday amid fears that a sudden surge in demand for electricity could trigger new blackouts in the northeastern United States and Canada, where the power grid failed so dramatically late last week," reported the AFP news service.
"As many as 5,000 people could have died as a result of the recent heat wave across France, Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei told RTL radio yesterday. Both doctors and the political opposition have accused the government of underestimating the disaster and failing to act fast enough. By the time the government launched a national emergency plan on Thursday, boosting hospital beds and staff and setting up temporary morgues, the heat wave was already receding," reported the AFP news service.
"Americans were still reeling from the Sept 11 terrorist attacks when shots rang out on a street corner in this Phoenix suburb a few days later, leaving an Indian immigrant dead. Yet authorities say the gas station owner was targeted days after the attacks because he wore a turban and beard as part of his Sikh faith," reported the AP news agency.
"Now a jury will be asked to consider whether the alleged gunman in the Sept 15, 2001, killing, Frank Silva Roque, committed a racially motivated hate crime, or whether a mental illness was to blame. Roque's public defenders, Daniel Patterson and Robert Stein, plan to present a guilty except insane defence," reported the AP news agency.
"A British defence industry company has adapted its precision system for identifying and targeting tanks to help shoppers choose their clothes. If mass-produced, a system could be installed for around US$1,500, in contrast to existing body-mapping equipment using infrared and lasers, which is cumbersome and expensive," reported the dpa news agency.
"Some British police officers are so incompetent that aficionados of TV crime series would probably have a greater chance of solving a simple burglary case, senior police officers said in an interview published yesterday," reported the dpa news agency.
"A lawyer is suing a psychiatrist for having sex with his wife in between the 24 marriage guidance counselling sessions they paid him for, news reports said yesterday. Michael Baker alleged that unprofessional conduct by Owen Pershouse wrecked his marriage and brought on his 1993 divorce. Pershouse, who also parted from his wife in 1993, denied any wrongdoing," reported the dpa news agency.
"Supposedly long-extinct Tasmanian tigers have been spotted in parkland 25km from the heart of Melbourne, according to at least 20 sightings reported to the Victorian state government since the early 1990s," reported the AFP news service.
"Al Arabiya television yesterday aired an audio tape allegedly from an al-Qaeda spokesman saying Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Omar were alive and urging Muslims to fight a holy war against US troops in Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States is highly likely to face another attack similar to Sept 11 within the next 12 months, a London-based research organisation said on Sunday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US army acknowledged yesterday that it had killed a television journalist after soldiers had mistaken his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. He was the 17th news organisation employee to be killed since the war began. is the second Reuters cameraman to be killed since the US-led force invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein. Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer has called for the fullest and most comprehensive investigation into this terrible tragedy," reported the news Agencies.
"Hundreds of thousands of sweltering Baghdadis faced another day without running water yesterday after sabotage of a key water pipe in the east of the capital that came amid a spate of deadly attacks across Iraq. With summer temperatures soaring high, up to 300,000 people were without drinking water for a second scorching day," reported the AFP news service.
"In a campaign set to start on Monday, US forces plan to put up posters around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit showing his face superimposed on Hollywood heroines and other stars, a range of spoof Saddam pictures taken from the Internet (www.worth1000.com}, in an attempt to enrage his followers and draw them out," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The dossier on which British Prime Minister Tony Blair justified war against Iraq contained no proof of any threat from Baghdad, according to an e-mail from a top Blair aide released yesterday. The e-mail is the first public sign of debate within Blair's inner circle about the strength of intelligence used to justify a war that most Britons opposed," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief of staff was to face a grilling yesterday over British government claims about Iraq's weapons threat when he takes the stand at an inquiry into the suicide of bio-warfare expert David Kelly. Jonathan Powell, one of Blair's closest advisers, will also be asked about Downing Street's role in handling Kelly after he was identified as the suspected source of a BBC report that Britain exaggerated the danger from Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"India's governing coalition easily defeated a no-confidence motion, a victory that could give Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a crucial boost before state elections later this year. The motion, brought by the opposition Congress party, was defeated late Tuesday by a vote of 312 to 186," reported the AP news agency.
"Wall Street waffled its way to a modest gain Tuesday as mixed economic news and a car bombing in Iraq revived investors' caution following Monday's big rally. But while investors want to anticipate the (good) news we have been getting recently, they are at the same time being cautious about prices. The major indexes fluctuated throughout the session," reported the AP news agency.
"A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday on a double bus packed with Jewish worshippers returning from the Western Wall, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 100 in one of the deadliest Palestinian attacks in the past three years," reported the AP news agency.
"A massive truck bomb devastated the United Nations headquarters here yesterday, killing the UN special envoy to Iraq and at least 14 others in what may have been a suicide attack. Scores were wounded and rescue workers battled into the night to save those trapped in the rubble as US President George W. Bush vowed not to be intimated by terrorists and diehard supporters of fugitive dictator Saddam Hussein," reported the Rueters news agency.
"President George W. Bush condemned yesterday the deadly truck bombing at UN headquarters in Baghdad, calling the attackers enemies of the civilised world. Speaking from his Texas ranch, Bush said he had spoken by phone with the US administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about the attack and about the vital work in Iraq that continues," reported the AP news agency.
"France pledged its full support for the United Nations in Iraq and vigorously condemned the bomb attack on the organisation's Baghdad headquarters yesterday," reported the AP news agency.
"Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock and dismay yesterday at the deadly bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad but vowed the United Nations would stay on the job in Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top UN envoy on Iraq who was killed by a bomb blast yesterday, was a tough but debonair Brazilian who had been dispatched on some of the world body's most difficult missions," reported the Rueters news agency.
"Journalists in Iraq are facing double danger as tense US troops, nervous after weeks of attacks from Iraqi militants and looters, accidentally place reporters and photographers in their gunsights," reported the AFP news service.
"US soldiers shot at an Iraqi ambulance during a battle with attackers who had opened fire on an American base, the US army said yesterday. The US military does not regularly announce deaths or wounding of Iraqi civilians by American forces unless the incident has been reported by journalists," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office authorised a substantial re-write of a controversial government dossier on Iraq. Kelly's death is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, amid allegations – reportedly based on the weapons scientist's evidence – that the Blair administration beefed up intelligence data to bolster the case for war on Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam Hussein's former vice-president, has been captured by US-Kurdish allies in northern Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Ramadan had been captured and handed over to US-led forces," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Moroccan court yesterday sentenced four men to death for their involvement in a wave of near-simultaneous suicide bombings in May that killed 32 bystanders," reported the AP news agency.
"Germany yesterday was preparing a jubilant welcome for 14 European hostages released after more than five months in the Sahara desert. But some officials began asking tough questions about how far governments should go to rescue adventure tourists in peril," reported the AFP news service.
"Pauline Hanson's official Web site compared her Thursday to Nelson Mandela, and described the former right wing lawmaker's conviction and three-year jail term for fraud as a plot to end her political career. As Hanson began her first full day behind bars in the eastern city of Brisbane, her lawyer was preparing to file appeals against both her conviction and sentence," reported the AP news agency.
"The controversial founder of Australia's anti-immigrant One Nation party, Pauline Hanson, was jailed for three years yesterday after being found guilty of electoral fraud," reported the Reuters news agency.
"People power has toppled two Philippine presidents -- but former President Corazon Aquino says she's disappointed that it hasn't lifted her people from poverty. She made the comments on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of her husband Benigno Ninoy Aquino, a former senator gunned down for his opposition to dictator Ferdinand Marcos," reported the AP news agency.
"Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday both the United States and the United Nations made mistakes in Iraq, as the world body searched for ways to improve security after its headquarters in Baghdad were bombed. Cutting short his summer vacation in Scandinavia, Annan returned to U.N. headquarters in New York vowing that the United Nations will remain in Iraq to help restore peace and stability," reported the AP news agency.
"The FBI said yesterday the bomb that ripped through UN headquarters here was made from 454kg old munitions including one single 226kg bomb, all of the materials from Saddam Hussein's pre-war arsenal that required no great degree of sophistication to build. An FBI special agent at the blast site said it was impossible yet to say whether the bomb was the work of Saddam loyalists or foreign terrorists," reported the AP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair's top media adviser, Alastair Campbell, on Tuesday rejected claims he sexed up a government dossier on Iraq ahead of war, as an inquiry into the apparent suicide of weapons expert David Kelly intensified. Campbell also denied he was responsible for the public naming of government scientist Kelly, touted as the source of a BBC allegation that Campbell ordered the embellishment of the dossier to help justify the March invasion of Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Nearly two years after the Sept 11 attacks, the US-led war on terrorism seems to be losing ground as a deadly strike on UN headquarters in Iraq and mounting violence in Afghanistan undermine stability in both countries," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus here crowded with Jewish families, killing at least 20 people, including as many as six children, officials said yesterday. The Tuesday night attack was one of the deadliest Israel has seen in the past three years of violence," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas convened his Cabinet for an emergency meeting yesterday to decide on a response to a Hamas suicide bombing, with Abbas coming under growing international pressure to begin clamping down on the militants," reported the AP news agency.
"A World Health Organisation virologist has joined the Canadian investigation of a flu-like illness in British Columbia that officials say could be a mild form of SARS or a related virus. Almost 150 residents and staff members at one nursing home in a Vancouver suburb fell ill in recent weeks with sniffles and other symptoms much less severe than the headaches and pneumonia associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome," reported the AP news agency.
"Germany paid a multi-million euro ransom to win the release of 14 European tourists abducted earlier this year in Algeria's Sahara desert," reported the dpa news agency.
"The blackout that stranded millions of travellers, halted assembly lines and spoiled tons of food cost an estimated US$4bil to US$6bil, no more than a temporary ripple in the economy," reported the AP news agency.
"Posters have yet to be plastered on Philippine streets and few candidates have declared but the campaign vitriol for next May's presidential election is already in full flow. Incumbent President Gloria Arroyo has repeatedly said she will not run. But her protestations are growing harder to believe as her popularity ratings bounce back – a point not lost on her political opponents," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine humanitarian contingent was leaving for Iraq yesterday, despite the deadly bomb attack in Baghdad, to show that Manila will not back off until terrorists are defeated," reported the AP news agency.
"More than one million Chinese are affected with a parasitic worm that attacks the blood and liver and in some cases leads to death, and another 65 million are at risk. The disease, known as shistosomiasis or snail fever, has started spreading quickly as a result of the flooding of densely populated areas in recent years. After a massive deluge along the Yangtze River five years ago, the disease, which was carried by freshwater snails, moved on to large, previously unaffected areas, according to the paper," reported the AFP news service.
"An Indian Airlines pilot accidentally pressed a hijack alarm button as his plane was about to take off for insurgency-wracked Kashmir yesterday," reported the AP news agency.
"United Nations operations in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, where humanitarian workers are under attack from anti-government rebels, were likely to see security bolstered after the bombing of the UN's Baghdad headquarters. Security is already stringent for UN staff across post-Taliban Afghanistan, where an intensified guerilla campaign by suspected Taliban fighters and factional fighting have claimed around 100 lives in the past week," reported the AFP news service.
"The long, hot summer is growing more uncomfortable for residents of the United States' capital because of a rise in violence, an increasing threat from street gangs and an unsolved serial arson case. Some of the crimes have been brazen, others especially tragic," reported the AP news agency.
"Ali Hassan al-Majid, a feared cousin of Saddam Hussein nicknamed Chemical Ali for his use of poison gas in attacks, has been captured by US forces in Iraq. Majid's detention comes after the arrest this week of former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan in Mosul, the northern Iraqi city where Saddam's two sons were killed last month by US troops," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Rescuers have pulled at least three more bodies from the ruins of the devastated United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, raising to at least 23 the number killed in a suspected suicide truck bombing. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet later in the day in New York to discuss a UN resolution that could provide greater security in Iraq. There are no plans for a mass UN evacuation from the country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that the United States wanted a greater international contribution to the work of the US-led coalition forces in Iraq, but without offering to cede any operational authority. Following talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Powell said US and UN officials were exploring the possibility of a new UN resolution, that one US official said could be tabled for a vote in the Security Council as early as next week," reported the AFP news service.
"US forces did not win the war, Saddam Hussein is a CIA agent and Ariel Sharon just bought a house on the banks of the Tigris so say the pages of Baghdad's newspapers, where conspiracy and rumour reign supreme. Now theories are already doing the rounds that US forces might have attacked the UN headquarters because they don't share the UN's vision for post-war Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel killed Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab in a missile strike yesterday, two days after a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, and militant groups called off a seven-week-old old ceasefire. The collapse of the truce, agreed by militant factions under international pressure, could sink a US-backed road map peace plan aimed at defusing a 34-month-old uprising and creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza by 2005," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Liberia's warring factions named Gyude Bryant, a businessman-politician known as a consensus builder, on Tuesday to guide their broken West African state out of a generation of strife and towards elections," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President Jacques Chirac and his government were battling their worst political crisis yesterday since winning elections last year as the French expressed growing anger over the death toll from a recent heat wave, which could top 10,000. As Chirac and the top ministers in his centre-right administration held their first Cabinet meeting since the heat wave, which roasted France for the first two weeks of August, a survey showed that most of the public believed the government had failed to properly handle the disaster," reported the AFP news service.
"New York's State Attorney-General is suing a travel agency that critics say offered tours to men seeking sex from prostitutes, some underage, in the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia," reported the AP news agency.
"This Norwegian capital found itself on Wednesday at the top of a league where it does not pay to win – the world's most expensive city. A comparison of prices of goods and services around the globe by Swiss financial services group UBS found that Oslo has replaced the perennial high-cost city Tokyo as the league leader," reported the dpa news agency.
"Jesus might have been the son of God but he was also a top bloke who threw ripper barbies, according to a version of the Bible released yesterday that translates the Christian holy book into Australian slang. Author Kel Richards said the 90-page book was a light-hearted way of introducing the Bible to ordinary people who might be put off by the traditional version's language. It is written using the Australian vernacular and as if the events had actually happened in Australia," reported the AFP news service.
"A former US marine who ran off with a 12-year-old British girl in July triggering an international manhunt would be extradited from Germany to face trial in Britain," reported the AFP news service.
"Convicted right wing politician Pauline Hanson could be given special protection in prison to guard against possible threats by Aboriginal inmates who remember her fierce criticism of indigenous Australians," reported the AP news agency.
"The Argentine parliament waived the amnesty laws for crimes against humanity committed under the military dictatorship (1976-1983) early yesterday morning, opening the door for up to 2,400 new criminal cases against the military and policemen accused of kidnapping, torture and murder during the dirty war. The lower house approved the Bill last week and yesterday's approval by the senate voids the amnesty of human rights crimes on the condition that any proceedings meet the appropriate conventions of the United Nations," reported the dpa news agency.
"The future computer designed by a second-year student of Beijing No 5 High School captured the attention of many participants at the 18th National Younger Scientific and Technological Innovation Competition held in Beijing recently. According to computer specialists, the future computer can be used as a synchronised system to integrate PC, projection machine and family film-showing into one and it augurs a bright business perspective," reported the People's Daily.
"Prime Minister John Howard's office exaggerated intelligence reports on the threat posed by Iraq to justify going to war, a former government intelligence analyst told an Australian parliamentary inquiry yesterday. Andrew Wilkie who resigned from Australia's top intelligence assessment agency, the ONA, last March to protest against the government's stance, said Howard's office deliberately skewed the truth and misled the public over Iraq's weapons capabilities," reported the AP news agency.
"French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin described the current situation in Iraq as a situation of decomposition, of discouragement for the Iraqi people and at the same time a logic of confrontation. A logic of occupation must be rapidly replaced by a logic of sovereignty, the minister told the private RTL radio station, wondering aloud whether the current approach of the US-led coalition, which he said was essentially security-oriented, had not failed," reported the AFP news service.
"US investigators probing the deadly truck bombing on the UN's headquarters here focussed yesterday on the possibility that former Iraqi intelligence agents working as guards in the compound may have assisted the attackers," reported the AP news agency.
"Iran's former ambassador to Argentina was arrested by British police on Thursday in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre which killed 85 people. Hadi Soleimanpour, ambassador at the time of the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Centre, was arrested on an extradition warrant and was to appear before London magistrates yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Marilyn Manuel's family and friends had gathered to mourn at their New York City home after hearing the worst: Officials told them she had been killed in the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Iraq. Then, a telephone call early onThursday brought a miracle: Manuel's voice on the line, calling from a hospital outside Baghdad," reported the AP news agency.
"A former New Jersey Superior Court judge, arrested in April on state child pornography charges, was charged under federal law after new evidence was uncovered, prosecutors said on Thursday. Stephen Thompson, 57, faces charges of possession of child pornography and travelling to Russia to videotape a sexual encounter with a teenage boy, according to the US attorney for the district of New Jersey," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel plans to kill more militant chiefs in raids mirroring a lethal missile strike on a Hamas leader, Israeli officials warned yesterday, as tens of thousands of Hamas supporters turned out for his funeral in a show of strength and promised thunderous revenge. Palestinian leaders said Thursday's killing of Ismail Abu Shanab ruined what was to be an imminent campaign against militants by Palestinian security forces that would have included arrests and weapons roundups," reported the AP news agency.
"A robot with impeccable manners charmed guests at a state dinner with his wisecracks and dancing, outshining Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and showing up his often-mocked social stiffness. Asimo began working the crowd as soon as he arrived at the dinner late on Thursday, telling jokes, greeting Spidla warmly, and even making a champagne toast before wisecracking that he couldn't drink himself because he is underage," reported the Reuters news agency.
"New Zealand escaped serious damage and injuries when a massive earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck a lightly populated area at the foot of the South Island early yesterday morning. The earthquake, the biggest recorded in the country since 1968, was felt as far away as Sydney, more than 1,600km to the west," reported the dpa news agency.
"Researchers say there is virtually no evidence of limestone formation on Mars, a finding that suggests the Red Planet never had oceans or seas. That conclusion, however, does not alter the possibility of life on Mars," reported the AP news agency.
"Whatever the outcome of the battle over the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama state judicial building, religious symbols and words will continue to be embedded in the government, the courts and other public places in this secular country. While God is in many places, in courtrooms it's a very delicate matter, says John Langan, professor of ethics at Georgetown University. People feel very vulnerable there. They need reassurance they won't be discriminated against and that their values will be taken seriously," reported the AP news agency.
"The descendants of Moctezuma II, the last Aztec emperor of Mexico, are trying to recover the pensions granted them in 1550 and suspended in 1934. The pensions, paid in gold, are now worth US$90,000 per person a year. Moctezuma's descendants are demanding the Mexican government resume the payments, claiming they were illegally suspended," reported the AFP news service.
"Lung cancer, a disease that usually is detected only when the patient has just months left to live, can be spotted in its early stages thanks to the latest techniques in medical scanning," reported the AFP news service.
"In a rare public address to the nation, President Jacques Chirac conceded on Thursday that weaknesses in France's health system had contributed to thousands of heat-related deaths in recent weeks," reported the Guardian.
"Hobsons Bay Council in Melbourne introduced the ban this month, claiming dressing up as superheroes encouraged violent behaviour and bullying among the three-to-five-year-olds in its childcare centres. Australian Prime Minster John Howard yesterday slammed a ban on superheroes at childcare centres as < i>political correctness gone mad," reported the AFP news service.
