"At least 12 Iraqi civilians were killed yesterday when an arms dump blew up on the outskirts of Baghdad, sending rockets flying into houses over a wide area and sparking a string of further explosions. With shrapnel, live ammunition and unexploded rockets strewn far and wide, the precise extent of the damage and casualties was far from clear," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Tareq Aziz and other captive leaders of the collapsed Iraqi government are being questioned by US intelligence teams and could face criminal charges," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Their bosses in Baghdad are dead, captured or on the run, and police with machine guns guard their offices. But many Iraqi diplomats around the world are still on the job, renewing passports, registering births and waiting for new marching orders. Their status with host countries is also unclear. Nations for the most part are letting the Iraqis quietly continue their work, but it is clear the diplomats are no longer being taken seriously as representatives of any government in Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"The US is preparing to install an American chairman on a planned management team of the Iraqi oil industry, providing further ammunition to critics who have questioned the Bush administration's agenda in the Middle East. The structure is likely to anger opponents of the administration who argue that the US is wielding too much power in Iraq," reported the Guardian.
"The Pentagon has begun sending a team of Iraqi exiles to Baghdad to help set up a temporary American-led government. Most of the exiles have a background in administration and are set to take up positions at each of the 23 Iraqi ministries," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Officials said 133,000 temporary visitors had been successfully documented as part of a post-Sept 11 registration programme, despite objections from Arab and other groups that the programme had alienated entire communities," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A teenage gunman who hijacked a bus for six hours faced arraignment before a court in Germany yesterday. None of his 15 hostages was injured in the odyssey across northern Germany before he surrendered to police on Friday," reported the dpa news agency.
"The SARS virus which has triggered panic across the world could be more deadly but less contagious than previously thought," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States will raise the possibility of UN sanctions against North Korea when it consults with allies about the latest round of nuclear talks marked by Pyongyang's brinkmanship," reported the AP news agency.
"Winnie Madikizela-Mandela might have been found guilty on dozens of fraud and theft charges, but her loyal supporters have vowed to stand by her until the end," reported the AFP news service.
"A US-Russian crew blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome yesterday in a mission to keep the International Space Station (ISS) operating despite the US space shuttle disaster," reported the Reuters news agency.
"It is now a week since US Army Gen (Rtd) Jay Garner arrived in Baghdad to take over as unilaterally appointed US administrator of Iraq. Meanwhile, George W. Bush would still be overreaching himself to affect the manner of Winston Churchill, much as he is known to admire Britain’s wartime prime minister. Unfortunately, however, many Britons and others familiar with Churchill reject this association as most unlikely and opportunist," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Thus Iraq would have been understood to have indeed possessed its WMD stockpile, neatly justifying the invasion, but then Baghdad destroyed it so that there was no longer any need to look for it. But harsh realities have a nasty habit of upsetting even the best-laid plans. For example, how is a chaotic Iraq going to be settled and administered, and who will play what role?," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Faced with questions about the absence of Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that served as the pretext for invasion, a few chemical finds were announced. But nothing came from them by way of WMD or evidence of WMD," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Four Palestinians were wounded, one critically, when gunmen and stone-throwers clashed with the Israeli army in this northern West Bank city yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"An international road map to Middle East peace will be unveiled as early as next week, once the new reform-minded Palestinian prime minister and his cabinet are confirmed. The Palestinian Legislative Council is widely expected to approve Abbas' appointment on Tuesday at a special session in Ramallah. The road map may be released on Wednesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinians travelling in the West Bank spend much of their time held up at Israeli checkpoints. Shukri Odeh got engaged at one. But with Israeli troops barring the Jerusalem lawyer from his bride-to-be's hometown, Shukri and his bride-to-be were forced to toast their fledgling union at a military barrier," reported the AP news agency.
"A provincial governor loyal to President Hamid Karzai's government said Sunday that his forces have killed 10 Taliban rebels in fighting still raging in the mountains of southern Afghanistan. Hamidullah Kahn Tokhi, the governor of Zabul province, said several of his men have been wounded in the current fighting, but declined to give details of their injuries," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq’s new US administrators met Baghdad officials yesterday to try organise restoration of essential services to the battered city, but disputes dragged on over who runs the capital and the rest of the country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The continuing privations in Baghdad have increased Iraqi resentment of the Americans. On Saturday furious residents also blamed US troops for an arms dump explosion that killed at least 12 people and sparked fresh anti-American protests. Anti-American protests broke out later in the capital and the incident seemed sure to fuel mounting opposition to a continued US military occupation of Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraqis stepped up yesterday demands that water and electricity be restored ahead of an expected visit to the war-torn country by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Hundreds of Iraqis rallied in a new demonstration near the Palestine Hotel, which hosts hundreds of reporters under the guard of US troops, demanding phone lines and fuel as well as water and electricity," reported the AFP news service.
"Amnesty International said it was disturbed by a Norwegian newspaper report that included a photo purportedly showing US soldiers escorting three naked Iraqi men through a Baghdad park," reported the AP news agency.
"US forces yesterday arrested an Iraqi exile, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, who had proclaimed himself Baghdad's mayor, saying he was exerting authority he didn't have," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel's military intelligence chief said on Saturday the ousting of Saddam Hussein had removed a major strategic threat to the Jewish state and put pressure on its two enemy neighbours, Syria and Lebanon," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Before the fall of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein obtained bomb vests from Iraq's intelligence service and was trained on how to use them. On another subject, Chalabi said he thinks American companies are likely to get preferential treatment from a future Baghdad government because many of the Iraqis he has talked with are disappointed in the European nations that opposed the campaign to topple Saddam," reported the AP news agency.
"Colombia is on guard against debris that could rain down on it from the Italian research satellite BeppoSAX, which is to enter the Earth's equatorial zone next week," reported the AFP news service.
"US development of smaller, bunker-busting nuclear weapons is a step backwards and could lead to the end of the world, UN Undersecretary General for Disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala said. His comments came just two days ahead of a UN conference on nuclear non-proliferation, which is due to open in Geneva on Monday," reported the AFP news service.
"Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut has asked the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether an accused spy may have illegally funnelled Chinese government money into Republican coffers in the 1990s," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Yemenis packed polling stations yesterday to vote for their third parliament since the country's unification in 1990. Analysts say the impoverished Arab country is keen to prove to the United States that its public has a say in governance, particularly after the US-led war that toppled Iraq's Saddam Hussein," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Asian-American businesses appealed to the city to help lure tourists back to Chinatown after releasing two surveys showing business hadn't recovered since Sept. 11 and was suffering again as a result of fears about the SARS virus. Employee Ling Tan ate soup with rice for lunch Monday, saying nothing... From 9 o'clock. Not one dollar. But Tan said she didn't blame the dropoff on SARS. Rather, she said, she believed the war in Iraq was to blame for fewer tourists traveling to the United States," reported the AP news agency.
"The World Health Organisation said yesterday the worst of the SARS outbreak appears to be over in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada, while Vietnam has become the first country to contain the highly infectious respiratory disease. But SARS is spreading in China even as the government takes increasingly aggressive steps to halt the disease," reported the AP news agency.
"For Dr Ahmad Abdul Hassan of Basra Hospital, the British troops' claim that things are improving is a late April Fool's joke. He said the absence of security in the area made it difficult for any kind of administrative system to be put in place. He said they have done nothing to address the issues of safety, political security and stability," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Dr Ahmad Abdul Hassan of Basra Hospital said the US-led troops are not liberating forces. They are aggressors and want to create a better image by trying to fix something here and there. It was illogical for the country of the great Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to depend on Kuwait for drinking water when Iraq, with its abundant water resources, should be the one supplying to the other Gulf countries," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Prominent Iraqis agreed at a meeting with the US administrator of Iraq yesterday to hold a national conference in the next four weeks to choose an interim government," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, has told US interrogators that Saddam Hussein survived two air strikes launched to kill the ousted Iraqi president. In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that there was no possibility of Britain giving asylum to Aziz in return for information on Saddam's regime," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The chief Iraqi liaison to UN weapons inspectors surrendered to US forces, as American troops performed further tests on a metal drum that initial readings suggested contains nerve agents and mustard gas," reported the AP news agency.
"The New York Times quoted Capt. Ryan Cutchin of Mobile Exploitation Team Bravo – one of the specialist teams deployed in Iraq – as saying further testing by his unit had shown that the barrel's contents were not chemical weapons. He also said that initial suspicions that two vehicles at the site were mobile chemical laboratories had proved wrong," reported the AP news agency.
"About 250 leading Iraqis from across the political and ethnic spectrum held a watershed meeting yesterday, convened by the United States to work out how to replace Saddam Hussein's iron rule with democracy. Delegates at the meeting in Baghdad told Garner, who promised Iraq on Sunday that the Americans would leave as quickly as possible, that they were grateful to Washington for removing Saddam but now wanted to run their own affairs," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday went off without the traditional state-run fanfare yesterday as Iraqis met to form a new government. But in his former fiefdom of Tikrit, many were still celebrating in their own low-key ways," reported the AFP news service.
"Some of America's prickliest Arab allies, notably Saudi Arabia, gave much more support for the war in Iraq than was admitted in public, it was disclosed on Sunday. In reality, official sources told the Washington Post, at least 10,000 US troops passed through Saudi Arabia. US special forces, ostensibly on standby for search-and-rescue operations, were allowed to cross from northern Saudi Arabia into western Iraq, where they seized airfields and prevented any Iraqi missile attacks on Israel," reported the AFP news service.
"Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, thanked the rulers of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for wonderful assistance over the war in Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister-designate, said on Sunday he will refuse any invitation to meet President George W. Bush in Washington as long as Israel keeps Yasser Arafat confined to his headquarters in the West Bank," reported the Daily Telegraph.
"Europe and the United States should work as one polar power to tackle the world's problems rather then bickering as they did over Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper, he said the best way to stop the US acting unilaterally was to join forces with it rather than opposing it," reported the Reuters news agency.
"If you want to put your finger on the secret of being attractive, look at a person's hands. Scientists have revealed a strange connection between the length of a person's fingers and the attractiveness of their face," reported the dpa news agency.
"Stop eating meat the US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement sent with a face of a piglet on a mock medical mask and the slogan Say No to Pig-Farm Germs. Scientists are looking into the possibility that livestock may have been the source of the virus. In some parts of Guangdong, people live close to pigs and chickens," reported the AFP news service.
"North Korea told South Korea yesterday that it should not meddle in a stand-off over the communist North's suspected nuclear weapons, calling it a dispute between Pyongyang and Washington," reported the AP news agency.
"Suicide bomber blew himself up at a restaurant in Tel Aviv early Wednesday, killing two bystanders, hours after the Palestinian parliament approved Mahmoud Abbas as the first Palestinian prime minister, setting the stage for presentation of a plan for ending 31 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting," reported the AP news agency.
"George W. Bush urgged the U.S. Congress Tuesday to pass in the next month a five-year, $15 billion initiative to turn the tide against AIDS worldwide, saying the disease threatens to destabilize whole regions of the globe," reported the AP news agency.
"The occupying powers of Iraq should not use humanitarian aid as an excuse to put in place a speedy political solution, said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The occupying powers, he said, should work on a long-term commitment rather than providing a few weeks of aid. Dumping humanitarian aid, he said, could be damaging as it could create dependency. Security is essential so that people would feel safe enough to return to work," reported the JMTM news agency.
"President Saddam was not killed. He is still alive. He is going to address a message to Iraqis and to the (Arab) nation within 72 hours, the group calling itself Iraqi Resistance and Liberation said in a letter published by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi. The letter said Saddam has come across evidence that some Iraqi officials had long been involved with American and British intelligence," reported the news Agencies.
"US troops killed 13 Iraqi demonstrators west of Baghdad overnight, witnesses said yesterday, in bloodshed sure to inflame anti-American anger. It was a peaceful demonstration. They did not have any weapons said local Sunni Muslim cleric Kamal Shaker Mahmoud. They were asking the Americans to leave the school so they could use it," reported the news Agencies.
"Former Iraqi oil minister Amer Mohammad Rashid al-Ubaidi, a core figure in the development and cover-up of Iraq's clandestine weapons programmes, has surrendered," reported the AFP news service.
"Most of the 5,000 US troops in Saudi Arabia will leave by the end of the summer, marking a major shift in the American military presence in the Gulf after winning the war with Iraq. Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan insisted yesterday the pullout is because forces are no longer needed for their previous mission: Patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"A 20-year-old California woman accused of planting threatening notes aboard a cruise ship in hopes of halting a family trip and returning home to her boyfriend was charged with two counts of violating terrorism laws," reported the AP news agency.
"The Palestinian legislature convened yesterday for a vote of confidence in the Cabinet of prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas, a key to resuming Mideast peace efforts," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraqi anger was on the boil yesterday after three more people were killed by US troops in Fallujah, bringing the number shot dead by American soldiers to 16 in the city in the past two days. Anti-US protests appear to be on the rise and some residents say that they will not stop. A spokesman at US Central Command in Qatar said he was unable to confirm any shooting but said: The soldiers retain the right to defend themselves," reported the AFP news service.
"High-ranking Iraqi prisoners are denying Saddam Hussein's government had any weapons of mass destruction before the The Bush administration justified war with Iraq by citing intelligence pointing to prohibited Iraqi weapons programmes. Officials now say the weapons are either well-hidden or were destroyed in the run-up to the war," reported the AP news agency.
"A Belgian lawyer said on Tuesday he would file a lawsuit against General Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in Iraq, despite a warning from Washington against politically motivated legal cases. The case is based on evidence, including videotaped testimony, gathered by a group of Belgian doctors working in Baghdad. The lawsuit would be a test case for Belgium's universal jurisdiction law which was revamped to stem a flood of cases deemed politically sensitive," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The governor of Basra province under Saddam Hussein gave himself up on Tuesday here to the Iraqi National Congress (INC) political party and US officials. Sethna said negotiations were carried out with a third party as an intermediary, and that intermediaries were also negotiating with others on the wanted list," reported the AP news agency.
"France, which like many other countries pulled its diplomats out of Iraq before US-led forces attacked last month, again has an envoy in Baghdad," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived here yesterday and told the Iraqi people that US-led forces wanted to help them make the transition from tyranny to freedomand then leave," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Arabic newspaper splashed on the front page yesterday what it said was a handwritten letter signed by Saddam Hussein urging the Iraqi people to rise up against US troops who invaded and ousted his regime," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States plan to divide Iraq into five administrative zones, one of which could be managed by Poland, the daily Rzeczpospolita said yesterday quoting a Nato source," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A family photo album belonging to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was among a treasure trove of items confiscated by customs from travelers entering Jordan from Iraq. On April 19, customs officials said 42 paintings stolen from the Iraqi national museum had been seized at Jordan's Al Karama border post, many of which were allegedly smuggled by journalists returning from Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"The retired general overseeing Iraq's post-war reconstruction said yesterday that his fellow Americans should beat their chests with pride at having toppled Saddam Hussein without destroying the country's assets," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber killed three Israelis and injured 55 at a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub yesterday, but the United States vowed it would be undeterred in its plans to launch a new peace drive," reported the Reuters news agency.
"International mediators launched a US-led Middle East peace initiative yesterday, undeterred by a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed three Israelis in a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub. But Hamas, one of the militant groups behind the attack, quickly rejected the road mapaimed at ending 31 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence and vowed to keep up its campaign of bombings in defiance of the new Palestinian prime minister," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Johannes Fransen died two days before his granddaughter's wedding, but his family brought him along anyway - parking his body in an open coffin in the church during the ceremony," reported the AP news agency.
"Traffic pollution can affect male fertility by damaging sperm, Italian scientists said yesterday. Levels of testosterone and other hormones in the men, who were exposed to pollutants for about six hours a day, were normal, but sperm motility, or ability to swim, was lower which could affect its ability to fertilise a female egg," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States has decided to end 13 years of military presence in Saudi Arabia, a key demand of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and hardline Islamic groups across the Middle East. But US and Saudi officials were quick to say the pullout, announced on Tuesday, was not due to disputes or demands by Osama and even some Saudi opposition figures, who have called for foreign troops to leave the kingdom, the cradle of Islam," reported the AFP news service.
"A 20-year-old woman, who allegedly wanted to be with her boyfriend rather than on a cruise ship with her parents, has been charged with breaking anti-terrorism laws. Kelley Marie Ferguson of Laguna Hills, California, was accused of writing threatening notes that forced the ship to change its itinerary and make an emergency port call," reported the AFP news service.
"The Libyan government has accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and set up a fund to compensate victims' families. The United States has demanded that Tripoli accept the responsibility for the bombing and pay compensation before UN and US sanctions can be scrapped, a moment eagerly awaited by at least four US oil companies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australian Prime Minister John Howard will put to the United Nations next week a plan to shake up the UN Security Council with a permanent seat for Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation," reported the Asia News Network.
"US government scientists have launched an all out effort to develop a vaccine against SARS, in case it turns into a pandemic and spreads to the United States," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli troops stormed a Hamas stronghold, setting off the most intense gunbattle in the Gaza Strip in 2 1/2 years of fighting just a day after mediators presented a Mideast peace plan. Twelve Palestinians were killed, including two children and a top bombmaker. The Palestinians have accepted the plan, while Israel has expressed major reservations," reported the AP news agency.
"President George W. Bush, on an aircraft carrier homebound from the Gulf, told the United States that Saddam Hussein's defeat is one victory in a war on terror that still goes on. It was an apparent presidential first; traditionally, presidents use helicopters to visit aircraft carriers. It was a made-for-television day sure to be replayed during Bush's re-election campaign," reported the AP news agency.
"Bush sought to give Americans a closure to the fighting in Iraq while avoiding a sweeping claim of overall victory. Bush stopped short of declaring victory or an end to the war. Such declarations could trigger international laws requiring the speedy release of prisoners of war, limiting efforts to go after deposed Iraqi leaders and designating the United States as an occupying power," reported the AP news agency.
"Seething with anger, Shakir Farhan torments over the images of his unborn baby jumping out out of his pregnant wife's stomach after a rocket attack while Alia Abdullah agonises every time she remembers her son's foot. They cannot forgive the United States for what they did. This is a big price to pay for freedom," reported the JMTM news agency.
"Bush has steadily shifted his justification for the war from stripping a hostile regime of chemical and biological weapons - which Baghdad always denied having - to liberating the Iraqi people. Although White House officials insist they are sure Saddam had such arms, Bush and top aides have begun to raise the possibility that he may have ordered them pre-emptively destroyed," reported the AFP news service.
"A grenade attack wounded seven US soldiers in Iraq yesterday even as President George W. Bush prepared to announce an end to combat and his envoys sought to reap diplomatic gains from the war. The attack underscored the turbulence facing Bush as he aims to turn the world's attention from war to reconstruction during a speech scheduled for today aboard a US aircraft carrier nearly home from the Iraq war," reported the news Agencies.
"Iraqis praying together at a sports stadium in Ramadi, more than 100km west of Baghdad, where tribal sheikhs, religious leaders and other notables had gathered to launch a new political grouping called the National Front for the Salvation of Iraq on Tuesday. Many new political groups have emerged in Iraq after US forces toppled Saddam Hussein," reported the AFP news service.
"A US marine sergeant is under investigation for possible war crimes committed in Iraq based on statements he made to his hometown newspaper," reported the AFP news service.
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that the bulk of Afghanistan was now secure and US-led forces had moved from major combat operations to a period of stabilisation and reconstruction. But US-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted his government still had not been able to establish a strong administration countrywide and much more needed to be done," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A group of former intelligence specialists yesterday called on President George W. Bush to investigate the CIA and other spy agencies for failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The failure, said the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), constituted a policy and intelligence fiasco of monstrous proportions," reported the AFP news service.
"The group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), further urged Bush, for his own sake and for the credibility of the US intelligence community not only to invite UN inspectors back to Iraq, but to direct Gen Brent Scowcroft to investigate the agencies on whose intelligence the government based its decision to go to war," reported the AFP news service.
"Most Americans prefer Secretary of State Colin Powell's multilateral approach to rebuilding Iraq over the more unilateral stance of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld," reported the AFP news service.
"American Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious leaders urged President George W. Bush on Wednesday to disavow future first-strike warfare and called on the American people to reflect on the price of unilateralism from the Iraq war. The participants, assembled at the briefing, were asked if they had opposed the war. Nearly everyone in attendance indicated by raised hands that they had. It also said the United States should transfer control of Iraq to the United Nations," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday said it was upgrading its medical advice on identifying and handling cases of SARS by recommending that some suspect cases of the deadly virus be placed in hospital isolation wards," reported the news Agencies.
"Doctors here have discovered for the first time traces of the deadly SARS virus in the stool and urine of patients thought to be free of the virus and discharged from hospital," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Around 40 members of a mysterious doomsday group are involved in a tense stand-off with police in rural Japan, in a chilling reminder for many Japanese that such cults remain active eight years after a deadly gas attack," reported the Reuters news agency.
