"World leaders sought to put the deep divisions of the Iraq war behind them yesterday by demonstrating a more united front on efforts to combat poverty and AIDS in the developing world," reported the AP news agency.
"The world's most powerful leaders converged yesterday on the tightly-guarded French resort of Evian aiming to heal rifts over Iraq, as violence flared during a day of mass anti-globalisation protests," reported the news Agencies.
"Tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protestors set off on marches yesterday, as French police fired tear gas to stop demonstrators blocking a road to a resort hosting a summit of world leaders. Carrying anti-war banners and beating drums, some 1,500 protestors tried to block a road near the town of Thonon, the route for some delegations heading for the Group of Eight (G8) summit in the lakeside spa of Evian," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel yesterday eased its closure of the Palestinian territories three days ahead of a US-convened peace summit and amid expectations the two sides could declare a long-sought truce. The army relaxed its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight, as part of a package of measures to ease the hardships of the Palestinians," reported the AFP news service.
"Jordan's state security court yesterday sentenced a Japanese photographer to 18 months in jail for an explosion that killed an airport security guard," reported the AFP news service.
"A jet plane with two people aboard crashed yesterday into an empty building a few hundred metres from a road where scores of riders were racing in Italy's most famous cycling competition on the outskirts of Milan," reported the AP news agency.
"An Australian man who went into hospital for a life-saving heart transplant ended up with third-degree burns after a fire erupted during his surgery," reported the AFP news service.
"Bikinis, shorts and mini-skirts were the standard uniform as 100,000 techno fans danced the sunny day away at the G-move music event in Hamburg. The ravers, mostly decked out in sparse orange and green clothing, strutted their stuff behind 18 sound trucks that wound their through the northern German city to the port area where the party was to go on all night," reported the AFP news service.
"US officials said they were recovering barrels looted from Iraq's nuclear agency, buying back containers that may be radioactive from people who were washing clothes and storing food in them. Angry local residents said their children had fallen ill after wearing clothes washed in barrels once used to store processed uranium at the Iraqi Nuclear Energy Agency and which may have still had traces of radioactive material," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two US soldiers were wounded and two Iraqis killed yesterday in a grenade attack in front of a mosque in Baghdad," reported the news Agencies.
"Five thousand people took to the streets of Iraq's southern capital here yesterday to protest against the installation of a British officer to rule the region. British and Iraqi soldiers were deployed around the government house where a ceremony was to take place later in the day to mark the handover," reported the AFP news service.
"The Iraqi Trade Ministry began food distribution across the country yesterday, the first time since March when the public distribution system was disrupted by war. Nearly 27 million Iraqis nationwide were expected to receive food rations this month from an estimated 44,000 distribution agents," reported the dpa news agency.
"As a so-far fruitless search goes on for weapons of mass destruction, US forces on Saturday turned their attention to smaller fry, offering an amnesty to Iraqis who turn over their guns," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair duped the public over the threat posed by Saddam Hussein in order to ensure Britain invaded Iraq, Clare Short, who resigned from his Cabinet," reported the AFP news service.
"Expectations ran low yesterday ahead of a Middle East peace summit with US President George W. Bush, with Israel and the Palestinians dashing hopes for a joint statement or a ceasefire announcement," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush expressed optimism yesterday he could make progress in his first foray into Middle East peace making, even as Israel and the Palestinians played down hopes for the tripartite summit," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is heading to the Jordan peace summit confident of US President George W. Bush's approval of the first steps Israel has taken to advance the US-backed Mideast peace roadmap," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush sat down for his first tête-à-tête yesterday with France's Jacques Chirac since their fallout over Iraq, grabbing the limelight from agreements by world leaders on the economy, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Visibly at ease, the two leaders said all the right things as they spoke to reporters ahead of their keenly-anticipated private talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in the French Alps resort of Evian," reported the news Agencies.
"It may be too early to smoke a peace pipe, but President George W. Bush made a gesture in that direction on Sunday by offering French President Jacques Chirac a set of leather-bound books on American Indian culture," reported the Reuters news agency.
"World leaders plan to voice confidence in a global economic recovery at the summit of powerful industrial states yesterday, as they also try to find ways to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Swaziland's ruler on Sunday warned candidates for October parliamentary polls not to turn to ritual murders for good fortune when campaigning gets under way," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Five men charged with plotting to kidnap Victoria Posh Spice Beckham walked free yesterday, as it emerged that a key witness was paid for feeding news to Britain's best-selling Sunday tabloid," reported the AFP news service.
"African leaders won a promise of US$1bil a year from the European Union for the fight against AIDS after joining the opening day on Sunday of the G8 Summit of the world's most powerful nations," reported the AFP news service.
"The European Space Agency's (ESA) epic maiden voyage to Mars was set to blast off from the space centre in Kazakhstan yesterday. A Soyuz-Fregat carrier rocket would propel the 1.2-tonne Mars Express probe on its 55-million-kilometre journey. The mission's main objective is to search for sub-surface water from orbit and drop a lander on the Martian surface for closer examination," reported the dpa news agency.
"Police detained Zimbabwe's main opposition leader and fired tear gas at thousands of protesters yesterday as opposition supporters launched a final push to oust President Robert Mugabe," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia yesterday unveiled plans to bar fishing and shipping in nearly a third of the Great Barrier Reef in the biggest move yet to safeguard the world's largest living organism," reported the AFP news service.
"Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers marched on the US-led administration yesterday and threatened to launch suicide attacks on American troops in Baghdad unless they were paid wages and compensation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia's Defence Minister Robert Hill conceded yesterday that flawed intelligence reports suggesting Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction may have influenced the decision to join the war in Iraq. Hill admitted that Australia did not have any corroborating evidence of its own and suggested a review of pre-war intelligence handling. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, however, said yesterday he was satisfied with the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and rejected calls for a formal inquiry into the issue," reported the AFP news service.
"Saddam Hussein's fall from power has hit home for two of his daughters, who have gone from living in palaces to two cramped rooms in a humble Baghdad home with their nine children," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraqis largely ignored an order to turn in their weapons to coalition forces on Sunday, the first day of a 14-day amnesty imposed by the occupation regime," reported the dpa news agency.
"The Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Asia can catch up with and overtake the West but it must first rid itself of its historical baggage. It would also have to learn to be more critical of ideas and concepts coming out of the West and devise its own systems if it is to play a role in shaping the New World Order. Perhaps Asians should remind themselves that they were civilised long before the Europeans emerged from their caves," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"President George W. Bush launched the most ambitious US Middle East peace mission in two years yesterday, meeting Arab leaders to try to win support for ending Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed. In opening remarks to the US-Arab summit here, Bush told Israel it had a responsibility to deal with Jewish settlements," reported the Reuters news agency.
"After almost three decades behind bars, the oldest and longest-held Palestinian prisoner in Israel was freed yesterday. Israel released him as a goodwill gesture ahead of a peace summit today, but not without debate," reported the AP news agency.
"A US-backed road map to peace, the focal point of back-to-back Middle East summits this week, sets a course for an end to 32 months of violence and calls for creation of a Palestinian state by 2005," reported the AP news agency.
"Arab leaders, meeting with US President George W. Bush as he plunged into the labyrinth of Mideast peace talks, pledged yesterday to fight terror and violence and called on Israel to rebuild trust and restore normal Palestinian life," reported the AP news agency.
"Several US lawmakers vowed late on Monday to block a decision by federal regulators easing media ownership restrictions, warning the changes will concentrate media concerns in the hands of a few powerful corporations," reported the AFP news service.
"Europe's Mars Express orbiter and its lander Beagle-2 headed yesterday on the long journey to the red planet after a successful launch, but pitfalls lay ahead, including a possible encounter with the Great Galactic Ghoul," reported the AFP news service.
"For the second time in three weeks, French air traffic, railway and public transport workers went on strike yesterday to protest the government's pension reform proposal, disrupting travel throughout the country," reported the dpa news agency.
"Using hi-tech parts bought over the Internet, a New Zealand handyman says he is building a cruise missile in his garage and has a message for anyone who wants to do the same: You don't have to be a rocket scientist. Obviously the goal of this Web site is not to provide terrorists or other nefarious types with the plans for a working cruise missile but to prove the point that nations need to be prepared for this type of sophisticated attack from within their own borders," reported the AP news agency.
"Researchers exhumed a chest containing the supposed remains of Christopher Columbus and plan DNA and other tests on the bones to determine whether they are really those of the famed explorer," reported the AP news agency.
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was G'day!. That's how the New Testament might have begun if Jesus had been born Australian, according to an Australian author and broadcaster who had just completed a collection of favourite Bible stories retold in Australian English. The Three Wise Men, for example, became three eggheads from out east who went in search of baby Jesus and said: We saw his star out east, and we've come to say G'day Your Majesty," reported the Reuters news agency.
"One of Britain's biggest pub chains intends to crack down on foul-mouthed customers who cuss and swear over their pints, its founder was quoted as saying last Thursday. JD Wetherspoon already bans music and dogs in its 600-plus establishments across Britain," reported the AFP news service.
"University of Manchester researchers said they have cracked the secret of one of the reptile world's greatest climbers, the gecko, and produced a sticky tape mimicking its gravity-defying abilities. The new adhesive – gecko tape – contains billions of tiny plastic fibres which are similar to natural hairs covering the soles of geckos' feet. The research team believes it won't be long before Spider-Man gloves become a reality," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Many immigrants rounded up after the Sept 11 attacks were chained, physically and verbally abused, held without bail and denied access to lawyers, according to a Justice Department report released on Monday. Attorney-General John Ashcroft has been criticised by civil liberties groups because of the measures taken against the detainees, most of them Muslims," reported the AFP news service.
"World leaders closed an annual summit yesterday by pledging to rebuild Iraq and combat the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea. In a four-page closing statement, the Group of Eight summit countries – the world's seven wealthiest nations and Russia – sought to move past their bitter divisions over the US-led war in Iraq by declaring they were united in the reconstruction effort," reported the AP news agency.
"Former Army Secretary Thomas White said in an interview that it was time for the Pentagon to admit the US military was in for a long stay in Iraq that will require a major commitment of troops. Senior defence officials are unwilling to come to grips with the scale of the post-war US obligation in Iraq, White said in an interview published yesterday in USA Today," reported the AFP news service.
"Leading members of the US Congress are planning an investigation into whether officials here exaggerated claims about weapons of mass destruction to justify the recently concluded US-led war in Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday angrily denied he had doctored a report on Iraq's alleged illegal weapons to justify the US-led war, amid calls for an inquiry into the growing row. The British prime minister, US President George W. Bush's closest ally in the war, appealed for people to have a little patience while the search for chemical and biological weapons in Iraq continued," reported the AFP news service.
"A US soldier was shot and killed while on patrol in central Iraq early yesterday, while the military reported that four US soldiers and five civilians were blindfolded and interrogated by Iranian authorities after being taken off boats in the waters between Iran and Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"Already tense US-Iranian relations have worsened since the US-led war on Iraq. Iran worries about having another US-controlled neighbour after the United States toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan, while Washington accuses Teheran of meddling to try to influence the shape of post-Saddam Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"An Australian mining magnate known as a prominent benefactor for rightwing Israelis said Thursday he had been the target of an assassination plot sanctioned by the al-Qaida terror group before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks," reported the AP news agency.
"Some athletes from Canada and China can travel to Ireland to take part in this month's Special Olympics, the government announced Wednesday night in a partial reversal of its original plan to bar all delegates from SARS-struck countries," reported the AP news agency.
"US President George W. Bush began a landmark summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers yesterday, hoping his personal involvement will set an ambitious peace plan in motion," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US President George W. Bush won an Israeli pledge to begin to uproot some settlement outposts in the West Bank and a Palestinian call to end armed struggle for a state at a landmark summit yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The 20 people still unaccounted for when a passenger train collided with a freight train in eastern Spain are likely dead, rescue authorities said on Wednesday, raising the probable death toll to 25," reported the AFP news service.
"In an unusual act of patriotism, a Nevada brothel is offering free sex to troops returning from the US-Iraq war. The Moonlite BunnyRanch in Nevada, a legal brothel, also plans to extend 50% discounts on sex to the military for the next few weeks, proprietor Dennis Hof said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. The first 50 servicemen and women through the door will receive a sexy knockoff of their military-issued TA-50 kits of personal hygiene items. Instead of toothbrushes and soap, Hof's kits contain condoms, lubricant and a certificate for free sex. Thirteen men and three women in uniform have shown up so far to claim their gifts," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two Thai sisters who controlled a prostitution racket that brought hundreds of women from Thailand to work in the British sex industry were jailed on Tuesday," reported the AP news agency.
"Hillary Rodham Clinton, acknowledging tirades and tears over her husband's affair with a White House intern, says President Bill Clinton lied to her about the relationship until the weekend before he admitted as much to a grand jury. Hillary, now a Democratic senator from New York, vividly describes her pain over the betrayal in Living History, her new memoir covering her eight years in the White House," reported the AP news agency.
"A 35-year-old New Zealand schoolteacher has admitted a sexual relationship with a boy aged 10, telling police she loved him like a son. Faryn Ripine Matthews, said they had intercourse 10 to 20 times within eight months, the High Court in Rotorua heard, when she pleaded guilty to three representative charges of sexual violation of a minor," reported the dpa news agency.
"Failing to recognise that child abusers may be other than dirty old men in raincoats means some abusers can commit crimes without being caught, a children's rights group said yesterday. Recent cases in Europe and the United States have revealed organised networks trading in child pornography and making millions of dollars selling sex with children," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Kuwaiti court condemned to death yesterday a man convicted of murdering an American civilian. Sami al-Mutairi, 25, had pleaded innocent to charges of murder and attempted murder for the Jan 21 shooting of two Americans working under contract for the US military in Kuwait. Al-Mutairi's lawyer, Mohammed Minwer al-Mutairi, said he rejected the verdict and would appeal," reported the AP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday announced a parliamentary inquiry into the case his government made for attacking Iraq as he sought to crush claims he hyped up weapons evidence to justify war. But sceptics, some from his own Labour Party, accused Blair of fudging an inquiry, given that the committee answers to him. The opposition Liberal Democrats, saying Blair's credibility was on the line, moved a motion calling for an independent probe, but Labour's huge parliamentary majority meant that motion was defeated by 301 to 203 votes," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The probes coincide with planned Senate committee hearings in Washington over the US government's grounds for war. But the British inquiries are unlikely to silence Blair's critics, many of them within his own Labour Party, which was split over war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Blair risked his premiership and split his party by defying public opinion to send troops into Iraq, but he appeared to have emerged unscathed after Saddam Hussein's swift fall. The failure however to discover any of Iraq's suspected chemical, biological or nuclear weapons – the original Anglo-American motive for war – has put him back in the dock," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Supporters of British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a counter-attack yesterday against allegations he hyped up claims of Iraq's lethal weapons as Blair braced for a grilling on whether he misled the country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"More than 1,500 US combat troops from the 3rd Infantry Division moved yesterday into two conservative towns in central Iraq known for their anti-American sentiment, more than tripling the number of soldiers in the area to quell recent attacks on US forces. No immediate problems were reported as the troops took up position," reported the news Agencies.
"Meanwhile, inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog agency left Vienna yesterday for Iraq to investigate a nuclear site that has been looted, raising fears that radioactive material has gone missing. Their mission is to determine what is missing, to repackage this material and to re-secure it," reported the news Agencies.
"The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is reviewing an important pre-war intelligence report that concluded Iraq possessed biological and chemical weapons, the New York Times reported yesterday. The newspaper also reported that CIA investigators planned to ask the US Defence Department about the role of its special intelligence unit in the development of intelligence on Iraq's weapons programme," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Diplomats and Myanmar dissidents fear that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent a fifth day in custody yesterday, could have been injured in a clash between her supporters and a pro-government group last week," reported the Reuters news agency.
"More than 25,000 civilians are now living as refugees in Indonesia's Aceh province, where a major attack on separatist rebels continues, and the military said yesterday it may have forced some to quit their homes," reported the AFP news service.
"A primary school beauty killed herself and four of her friends and admirers drank poison in torment over their tangled relationships. storeowner who sold poison to the students from Shuangcheng Primary School in Wuwei, Gansu, was arrested and the school headmaster and other officials were sacked or warned for negligence," reported the dpa news agency.
"Vietnam's most powerful mafia boss was found guilty on murder and bribery charges yesterday in the climax to an explosive corruption trial exposing the murky links between organised crime and the ruling Communist Party," reported the AFP news service.
"More than 200 World War II shells have been unearthed at JTC Corporation’s Fusionpolis construction site in Ayer Rajah Avenue, Singapore. A spokesman for the police said they were informed of the find at 2.10pm on Friday, and began to vacate and cordon off the worksite when they got there. The bombs were pronounced as war relics by the Singapore armed forces’ explosives ordnance disposal unit after an assessment," reported the Straits Times newspaper.
"French authorities have arrested a German man said to be a top recruiter for the al-Qaida terror network in Germany. The arrest was the first in France since French anti-terrorism judges opened an investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington just a few weeks after they took place," reported the AP news agency.
"Intel Corp. narrowed its second-quarter revenue forecast Thursday, saying sales of microprocessors were at the high end of normal while demand for communications chips remained soft," reported the AP news agency.
"The European Central Bank on Thursday slashed interest rates to their lowest level since World War II in an attempt to get the continent's stagnant economy moving, and the bank's president said it had room to go lower still," reported the AP news agency.
"Israelis and Palestinians saw a glimmer of hope for peace yesterday in the afterglow of a US-led summit in Jordan, but hardliners on both sides threatened to block efforts to end hostilities. But the closing speeches at Aqaba were quickly met by vows from Palestinian militants to keep up their attacks on Israelis and a pledge from Jewish settlers to stand firm on occupied land and bitterly oppose the US-backed road map to peace," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The afterglow of a US-led Middle East summit faded yesterday, with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat saying Israel had offered nothing tangible and hardliners on both sides vowing to oppose a road map to peace. Arafat, who was excluded from Wednesday's landmark talks in Jordan but apparently played a behind-the-scenes role, dismissed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pledge to uproot some settler outposts in the West Bank as meaningless," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Russia said yesterday it would supply nuclear fuel to Iran even if it failed to allow stricter UN inspections in a move defying international concerns. Moscow's latest comments put further strain on its relations with the West over Iran – identified as a member of an axis of evil by Washington – just as the two sides' positions seemed to converge over the simmering dispute," reported the AFP news service.
"The top two New York Times editors resigned yesterday, dogged by an unrelenting scandal sparked by a former young reporter who plagiarised and fabricated dozens of stories at the nation's most influential newspaper. The plagiarism scandal gripped the paper in recent weeks, as top editors traced the misconduct of reporter Jayson Blair and investigated the work of other reporters," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Australian state has stopped funding a sex workers' support group after it published a pamphlet teaching prostitutes tricks to make sure customers keep coming back for more. The pamphlet by the Phoenix organisation in Western Australia gave sex workers tips like always act like you enjoy it and don't wear shoes in bed. The material Phoenix has produced appears to glamorise and promote the sex industry and much of it has nothing to do with health outcomes," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A German judge who held regular sex parties at his home has been jailed for three years for assisting a rape. He is now expected to appear as a witness at the forthcoming trial of the alleged rapist, who was himself arrested after being called to testify at the judge's hearing," reported the AFP news service.
"An Australian rape trial against a male prostitute who allegedly claimed to be a vampire was dropped yesterday after he was shot dead outside his home," reported the Reuters news agency.
"One of Germany's most controversial politicians, former deputy chancellor Juergen Moellemann who enraged German Jews by criticising Israel, fell to his death yesterday in a parachute jump. Police said they were investigating whether Moellemann, an experienced skydiver who had served as a paratrooper in the German armed forces, committed suicide or died in an accident. Moellemann apparently did not manage to open the reserve parachute," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Ask any gym member to name the essential items no kit bag should be without and most will say a bottle of water. But according to researchers almost as many exercisers are putting their health at risk by over-consuming water as drinking too little. USA Track and Field, the governing body for athletics and running in America, has produced new guidelines urging anyone who jogs, cycles or power walks regularly not to take in huge amounts of water," reported The Daily Telegraph.
"Swedish and American researchers have solved the puzzle of why baby boys are so much bigger at birth than girls – their mothers eat more during pregnancy. Women carrying male embryos consume about 10% more calories, 8% more protein and have a higher intake of carbohydrates and animal and vegetable fats, according to research published in The British Medical Journal last Friday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US House of Representatives easily approved a ban on a procedure critics call partial birth abortions on Wednesday, a measure supported by President George W. Bush and championed for nearly a decade by anti-abortion groups. If the bill, approved 282-139, withstands legal challenges, it would be the first time a specific form of abortion has been criminalised since the 1973 Supreme Court Roe versus Wade ruling," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A female suicide bomber killed herself and at least 15 other people yesterday near Chechnya when she walked up to a bus filled with Russian air force servicemen and detonated explosives strapped to her body. The attack happened near Mozdok, the main Russian military base in North Ossetia neighbouring the separatist Muslim republic of Chechnya," reported the AFP news service.
"A Dutch court acquitted yesterday 12 men accused of plotting a holy war against the West and helping to recruit al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Netherlands. The Rotterdam district court said there was no evidence to convict the men on charges of membership of an unspecified criminal organisation that provided support to al-Qaeda and the Taliban in their fight against US-led forces in Afghanistan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"With major powers loathe to do battle with Washington again, the UN Security Council is expected this month to renew its exemption of American peacekeepers from prosecution by the new war crimes tribunal. The council a year ago approved 15-0 a resolution shielding Americans and personnel from other nations that had not ratified the statutes of the International Criminal Court from prosecution while serving in UN-backed peacekeeping ventures," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US President George W. Bush vowed yesterday to uncover the truth about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, whose failure to show up so far has embarrassed war ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair. But Bush hinted it could be a long and difficult search as he wrapped up a week-long, six-nation journey with a flag-waving speech to cheering US troops at the base in Qatar where the US military had its combat operations centre for the Iraq war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"One US soldier was killed and five were wounded when an assailant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at them in the restive Iraqi town of Falluja yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
