"Iran will increase its co-operation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the Iranian atomic chief said yesterday, but suggested that the country will keep up controversial plans to enrich uranium. The United States suspects Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb – a charge Iran denies. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency urged Iran on Thursday to allow continued inspections of its suspect facilities and to desist from enriching nuclear fuel – a key step in making atomic arms," reported the AP news agency.
"The jokes crop up all over Teheran. Since the Americans could arrive any day, muses the corner grocer, he’d better start improving his English. A demonstrator running from truncheon-wielding riot police yells, We need the Americans to come here to give us freedom," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Many reformists and conservatives in Iran dread the idea that the US might be tempted to inspire a violent change in government. They anticipate their new proximity to American military forces will prove more an opportunity than a threat," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Saudi intellectuals and ulama called on Friday for wider political participation in the conservative Muslim kingdom, fair distribution of wealth and changes to an education system accused of fostering militants," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Saudi security forces in the Muslim holy city of Mecca have arrested four Saudi women after raiding a flat rented by a suspected militant, local newspapers said yesterday. Al-Watan newspaper said the security forces found three rifles, a pistol and live ammunition, as well as a bag full of gold, when they stormed the flat on Friday. Other newspapers reported that police also found a handmade bomb," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell failed on Friday to break a logjam in efforts to advance a new Middle East peace plan and he pressed wary Israelis and Palestinians to take urgent steps to save it," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US troops psyched up on a bizarre musical reprise from Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now before crashing into Iraqi homes to hunt gunmen yesterday, as Shi'ite Muslims rallied against the US occupation of Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Chanting and waving banners, about 2,000 Shi'ite Muslims protested outside the compound of the US-led administration here yesterday, demanding an end to the US occupation of Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair may have had a good war, as the saying goes, but a bad political run since the Iraq conflict has some observers wondering whether he is losing his touch," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US-led coalition forces have poured troops along Afghanistan's eastern border in an operation to prevent insurgents from crossing into Afghan territory from Pakistan to launch attacks," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel threatened yesterday more attacks on Palestinians it regards as “ticking bombs” after killing a senior Hamas militant in the West Bank on the eve of an international meeting to try to save a battered peace plan. Hamas, an Islamic group dedicated to Israel's destruction, vowed to avenge Abdullah Kawasme's death. It said it could not accept Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' call for a truce with Israel while its men were being killed," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A fuel pipeline exploded and caught fire west of Baghdad, a possible act of sabotage that sent flames high into the sky, as Iraq returned to world oil markets yesterday with its first crude oil exports since the US-led invasion," reported the AP news agency.
"Meanwhile, a grenade attack yesterday killed an American soldier and wounded another just outside the capital, the latest violence to plague US forces, who have launched a large crackdown aimed at putting down persistent resistance," reported the AP news agency.
"US troops last week hit a convoy said by US military sources to have been carrying deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his eldest son, Uday. The Observer weekly said US experts were in the process of carrying out DNA tests on human remains recovered from the convoy, struck by missiles last Wednesday as it headed out of Iraq towards Syria," reported the AFP news service.
"Maryam Rajavi, the head of Iran's main exiled opposition movement, was placed in detention early yesterday as part of a large-scale crackdown on her People's Mujahideen in France. Rajavi, wife of Massoud Rajavi who is the movement's military chief, had earlier been placed under judicial investigation – the first step before formal charges – by France's top anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, for conspiring with a terrorist organisation," reported the AFP news service.
"An 11-year-old boy was arrested on Saturday after he fired five shots at his father after an argument over chores, hitting him once in the chest.The bullet that struck Colorado Springs police officer Steve Worley failed to break the skin, said Fountain police chief John Morse. Worley was treated at a hospital and released. His son was being held at a juvenile facility on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of a handgun by a juvenile," reported the AP news agency.
"Four men were charged yesterday with torturing and raping a New Zealand man for almost 16 hours at a warehouse in the north-eastern city of Brisbane. Detective Inspector Ben Hanbridge said the 19-year-old backpacker, who had recently arrived in Australia from New Zealand, suffered broken bones, burns, cuts and bruises from the assault, which began on Friday night and ended on Saturday," reported the AP news agency.
"French anti-globalisation hero Jose Bove was arrested and whisked away to prison yesterday to begin a 10-month sentence for helping destroy genetically modified crops, police said. Bove, the controversial figurehead of the radical farmers' union, the Peasant's Confederation, was airlifted by helicopter from his farm at Millau in southern France. His incarceration, five months after his sentence was confirmed by judges, sparked immediate protests from politicians, unions and his supporters," reported the AFP news service.
"Australia yesterday named a new governor-general following the dramatic resignation last month of the previous Queen's representative amid a child sex abuse scandal. Conservative Prime Minister John Howard named Major General Michael Jeffrey, a career military man and former head of the Special Air Service special forces group," reported the AFP news service.
"Iranian student leaders said yesterday hundreds of students had been arrested following a wave of protests against Islamic clerical rule, and warned the crackdown could make them adopt more radical and violent methods," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A total of 44 people suspected of links to the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh have been arrested, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said yesterday. Those detained include four women arrested in a new raid on the Muslim holy city of Mecca on Friday amid initial indications that they played a role in the terror network," reported the AFP news service.
"The chairman of the Philippines' largest Muslim separatist group yesterday denied for the first time any links to the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah as rebel and government representatives held informal talks in Malaysia. Salamat Hashim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the rebel group was determined to overcome all obstacles that pose as stumbling blocks to the peace process with the government," reported the dpa news agency.
"Residents of these two cities, Singapore and Malaysia, are likely to help a blind man or pick up a pen only half as often. This unwillingness to lend a helping hand makes the two cities the least friendly places in Southeast Asia and indeed the world, according to a six-year study by a group of social psychologists led by Dr Robert Levine, a professor at California State University in Fresno. The fact that Latin American cities and poor cities like Lilongwe, Malawi, and Kolkata, India, hogged prime spots on the researchers’ list led Dr Levine to conclude that generally, cities where people had less disposable income, experienced a slower pace of life and had a culture that valued social harmony were the friendliest places," reported the Straits Times.
"An Israeli general leading security talks with the Palestinians said yesterday any temporary truce with Islamic militants would backfire against efforts to bolster a US-backed road map to peace," reported the Reueters news agency.
"Twenty-four hours after a new book about him hit the market, fictional boy magician Harry Potter from Hogwarts school of magic tricks sold an estimated five million copies for his US publisher, Scholastic Children's Books announced on Sunday," reported the AFP news service.
"Ang Lee's brawny Hulk crushed the competition in North America this weekend, according to preliminary box office figures released on Sunday," reported the AFP news service.
"With rebels at the gates of his capital, Liberia’s President Charles Taylor is believed by many of his subjects to be using human sacrifice and cannibalism to cling to power. Witchcraft and magic play a strong social role in the troubled west African country and accusations of cannibalism have surrounded Taylor since he swept to power at the head of a rebel army in the early 1990s," reported the Daily Telegraph.
"Hundreds of protesters took to the streets as agriculture officials from around the world prepared for a meeting where US officials will pitch advances in genetically engineered agriculture. Chanting, banging drums and carrying signs that read We Don't Want to Eat Their Corporate Creations, protesters swarmed the streets around the state Capitol and nearby conference centre on Sunday. Demonstrators blocked traffic and overturned a trash bin near a hotel where agriculture ministers were staying," reported the AP news agency.
"More than three quarters of a million people converged here on Sunday in its annual Gay Pride parade, the biggest event of its kind in Latin America. Police said around 800,000 people took part in the event, making it the world's third largest gathering of its kind after San Francisco and Toronto," reported the AFP news service.
"A New Zealand lesbian who won a Ms Gay contest in a nightclub was booed because she looked too straight," reported the dpa news agency.
"An Argentine woman gave birth to twin girls who were born fused at the head and sharing a heart and other vital organs, officials said. The woman also delivered a healthy baby boy," reported the AP news agency.
"A divided US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that it was legal for a university to give minorities preferential treatment based on race. But the court also limited the influence that race can play in university admissions," reported the AFP news service.
"A major review of security surrounding the royal family was conducted on Sunday after the worst breach for more than 20 years. David Blunkett, Britain’s Home Secretary, demanded a report from Scotland Yard into the embarrassing incident in which a self-styled alternative comedian evaded police and barged onto the stage at Prince William’s 21st birthday party dressed as Osama bin Laden," reported the Daily Telegraph.
"Arab League chief Amr Moussa said yesterday Arabs wanted to rebuild ties with the United States which were strained by its war against Iraq, and work in harmony towards peace in the region," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraq's US-led administration laid out plans yesterday to create a new Iraqi army and pay off disgruntled members of Saddam Hussein's dissolved armed forces. Anger among unpaid soldiers boiled into violence last week when US troops shot dead two protesters in a crowd that was stoning a military convoy as it drove into the administration's headquarters in Saddam's former palace compound," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iraq's fuel pipelines were again attacked yesterday by elements apparently bent on disrupting US plans to use Iraqi oil revenues to rebuild the country, as Saddam Hussein's soldiers won a pay battle with coalition forces. The third attack on Iraq's pipelines in less than two weeks hit in the northwest of the country on what was thought to be a fuel line to Syria, amid a warning that such attacks could become a daily occurrence," reported the AFP news service.
"It's only a matter of time before Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are captured or accounted for, President George W. Bush said Tuesday as he announced $3 billion in military and economic aid to reward Pakistan for its help in the war on terror. Missing from the package were 28 F-16 jet fighters long sought by Pakistan but blocked by Congress because of Islamabad's nuclear weapons program," reported the AP news agency.
"Thirty-seven Singapore students are competing to see if they can survive three days with nothing but a laptop computer and 120 Singapore dollars (US$69). The students have to order their food through the Internet. Participants are allowed one bath break a day and have to go in a group. They will also have to complete a series of tasks, including assembling parts of a computer's hard drive, designing a Web page and sending information to friends and family in the shortest possible time," reported the AP news agency.
"One of two teenagers charged in the firebombings of a US suburban Hindu temple was sentenced Tuesday to four months in a prison boot camp. Officials at the temple had speculated whether the attacks involved culprits who wrongly equated Hindus with Islamic extremists, or who believed they were targeting a Muslim mosque. However, the attorney, J. Martin Hadican, said tuesday the firebombings were just two kids doing something dumb," reported the AP news agency.
"Singapore and Jordan have agreed to begin negotiations on a free trade deal. The agreement would be Singapore's first with a Middle Eastern country and Jordan's first trade pact with an Asian country, according to a report published on the web site of International Enterprise Singapore, the government's international trade agency," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraqi insurgents ambushed British troops near the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, killing six soldiers and wounding eight others in two separate attacks. It was the deadliest day of combat for coalition forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein," reported the AP news agency.
"U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington, that these losses are a reminder that Iraq remains a dangerous place, but we must continue to stand firm. Our forces' role in establishing and maintaining security is critical to the stability and security of Iraq and also to our war on terrorism," reported the AP news agency.
"Demand for new cars and trucks remains weak in the United States despite unprecedented consumer incentives, and the outlook for next year is highly uncertain, a new report says," reported the AP news agency.
"U.S. consumers are feeling increasingly confident in the future health of the economy, but that optimism is tempered by doubts about current business conditions," reported the AP news agency.
"Investors made few moves Tuesday ahead of a decision on interest rates, pushing blue chips moderately higher and tech stocks narrowly lower in a lightly traded session. A mixed batch of economic news, amounting to a sales warning from Advanced Micro Devices and a better-than-expected reading on consumer confidence, added to the market's wait-and-see approach," reported the AP news agency.
"Israeli troops nabbed 150 suspected Palestinian militants, including 130 from the Islamist movement Hamas in Hebron alone yesterday, in the largest single arrest campaign since the start of the intifada. The crackdown also came as security talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials took a brighter turn," reported the AFP news service.
"An international biotechnology conference began in California with the US agriculture secretary hailing genetically modified food as a tool to reduce global hunger and demonstrators outside decrying it as a health threat," reported the AP news agency.
"Excessive drinking is leaving Australian taxpayers with a multibillion-dollar headache; about 10% of Australia's 19 million people were drinking at risky levels in the year ending June 30, 1999, the National Alcohol Strategy report said. The resulting liver disease, car accidents, fires, crime and associated economic and social effects cost taxpayers A$7.6bil," reported the AP news agency.
"The British comedian who gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party over the weekend has revealed glaring holes in the security around the royal family," reported the dpa news agency.
"The United States said on Monday that news of Iran's effort to identify members of terrorist network al-Qaeda was a positive move by Teheran," reported the AFP news service.
"President George W. Bush said yesterday that it's just a matter of time before terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden and deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are captured. Bush credited Musharraf with capturing more than 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, and he called Musharraf a courageous leader and a friend of the United States," reported the AP news agency.
"Italy's financial police launched a major swoop yesterday against a group it said was close to the al-Qaeda network in the north around Milan, arresting six people," reported the AFP news service.
"A Pakistani man was charged on Monday with lying to the FBI about a bogus al-Qaeda plot to attack New York City, prompting security measures that snarled traffic in two major tunnels for most of Saturday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Six British soldiers were killed and eight others were injured in two incidents yesterday in southern Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said. The Ministry of Defence refused to say whether the soldiers died in an attack, describing it only as an incident," reported the AP news agency.
"Turning on the royal charm, Britain welcomed President Vladimir Putin yesterday on the first state visit by a Russian leader in more than a century. Prince Charles was at Heathrow Airport to welcome Putin and his wife Lyudmila to London on a visit designed to cement growing economic and political links between the two former imperial powers," reported the AP news agency.
"The Iraqi faces of the US-led occupation told the United Nations that they need more funds to cope with everything from basic food distribution to preparing to sell off state enterprises and creating a market economy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Wary of US control of Iraqi development monies, several European donors proposed on Tuesday an international fund for reconstruction during a conference on measures to rebuild Iraq. But the proposal for a separate fund was one of the few signs of discomfort with the US-led occupiers at the first UN-sponsored meeting among US and British occupation authorities, Iraqi delegates and international agencies. The new fund would be parallel to the Development Fund for Iraq set up by the United States and Britain," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Furious Iraqi civilians shot dead six British soldiers and wounded eight others in clashes over intrusive arms searches in this southern Shi'ite town. Residents and witnesses said anger had been simmering for days as the British used sniffer dogs and aggressively searched local homes for weapons," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US contractor helping to rebuild Iraq's school system said on Tuesday his staff faced increased hostility on the ground and they feared becoming soft targets by Iraqis angry at US occupation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraq's information minister at the end of Saddam Hussein's regime, has been captured in Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"Saboteurs detonated a bomb at an oil pipeline 250km northwest of Baghdad – the fourth such attack in two weeks, al-Jazeera television said yesterday quoting witnesses. The Qatar-based Arabic channel quoted a Baghdad oil ministry personnel as saying the attack had been to prevent oil exports to Israel – but the saboteurs were choosing the wrong targets," reported the news Agencies.
"A top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons told congressional investigators he had been pressured to change his analysis of intelligence on Iraq and other issues, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing unnamed congressional officials. The expert, identified by the daily as Christian Westermann, reportedly told the House of Representatives Intelligence committee during private hearings last week that he had felt pressure from the administration of President George W. Bush to tailor his analyses to the administration's positions," reported the AFP news service.
"President Vladimir Putin, on the first Russian state visit to Britain in 130 years, has signalled that he wants to bury past differences on Iraq and focus on luring foreign investment into the Russian economy. Putin moved to dispel suspicion that he still sought to score political points out of the Iraq issue at a Buckingham Palace state banquet on Tuesday night after arriving on a four-day visit to a sumptuous royal welcome," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States froze the financial assets of the 55 most-wanted members of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime on Tuesday, the Treasury Department said. The department took aim at all 55 ousted regime members – including Saddam – in the Pentagon's deck of cards. Their names were placed on a list of specially designated nationals, freezing any of their assets in US jurisdiction and banning US citizens from doing business with them," reported the AFP news service.
"A Jordanian man who said he served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard went on trial in a court here on Tuesday charged with planning attacks in German cities. Federal prosecutors accuse the 26-year-old Jordanian citizen of belonging to Al Tawhid, a militant Sunni Palestinian group that the United States says has links to al-Qaeda, and helping to plot a grenade attack on a Jewish target in Germany," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel killed four Palestinians in a missile strike and gunbattle in the Gaza Strip yesterday and Palestinian militant leaders denied agreeing to a ceasefire needed to rescue a new Middle East plan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"At least 10 Islamic militants were killed and scores injured yesterday when Yemeni troops attacked the group's mountain hideout, military sources said, ending days of negotiations with the guerillas who were blamed for wounding seven soldiers last weekend," reported the AP news agency.
"Taiwan's president said Friday that he wants to hold an islandwide referendum on or before next year's presidential election to decide whether a partially built nuclear plant should be finished. The vote would be Taiwan's first islandwide referendum, and the issue has been the subject of intense debate in recent weeks," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq's oil exports in July are expected to exceed 1 million barrels a day despite increasing sabotage to the country's oil infrastructure. The entire output from the country's oil fields is expected to average around 1.8 million barrels a day," reported the AP news agency.
"A big increase in production is expected from Iraq's key southern oil fields around Basra, where output should more than double to some 1 million barrels a day once repairs to a vital gas processing plant are concluded in the first two weeks of July, said Phillip Carroll, chairman of the Coalition Provisional Authority, an advisory board to the oil ministry," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said yesterday he expected an announcement in hours that militants had agreed to halt attacks on Israelis, but a militant group challenged the assessment," reported the news Agencies.
"Islamic Jihad and other militant groups, including the Hamas movement, had been negotiating with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in a 33-month-old uprising for statehood, which had killed hundreds. Israel had been cool to the idea, saying a truce would give militant factions it had been targeting in track-and-kill operations time to regroup," reported the news Agencies.
"British and Russian ministers yesterday signed a major agreement on the proposed construction of an undersea pipeline to bring Russian gas supplies to Britain. It covers the planned construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline by Russian gas giant Gazprom under the Baltic Sea to Germany, and then on to Britain," reported the AFP news service.
"Police arrested three men accused of hogtying, beating and stabbing a pizza deliveryman because they mistakenly believed he was Muslim. Police were searching for a fourth suspect. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for a federal investigation," reported the AP news agency.
"While the first vote is still seven months away, the 2004 presidential contenders are making a dash for dollars ahead of a key fund-raising deadline next week that could provide early clues about the strength of the field," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An adulterous Finn pressed all the wrong buttons as he made love in a car, unknowingly prompting his mobile phone to call home just in time for his wife to hear him moan I love you – but to his mistress. The wife, doubly enraged after hearing the voice of her friend in the background, has been convicted of assault after going to her rival's flat and striking her in the face and later attacking her husband at home with an axe, though he fended off the blow. A court official said yesterday she received a 14-month suspended sentence for the attacks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay sex yesterday, ruling that the law was an unconstitutional violation of privacy. The 6-3 ruling reverses course from a ruling 17 years ago that US states could punish homosexuals for what such laws historically called deviant sex. Laws forbidding homosexual sex, once universal, now are rare. Those on the books are rarely enforced," reported the AP news agency.
"A German woman stabbed to death her husband during a fight over what colour they should paint the walls of their apartment in Hamburg, police said on Wednesday. The couple, married for 30 years, were apparently very drunk," reported the AFP news service.
"Brothels will now be legal in New Zealand after its parliament narrowly voted on Wednesday to overturn the country's 100-year-old sex laws which ban soliciting and living off the earnings of prostitution. Parliamentarians voted 60 to 59 in favour of the bill to decriminalise prostitution, drawing cheers from prostitutes and their supporters in the legislature's packed public galleries," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Grenade attacks killed an Iraqi and wounded two Americans on the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday as even Iraqis who loathed Saddam Hussein said they were seething against the US-led occupation. The attacks came as an Arab television station reported that former Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who earned the nickname Comical Ali during the Iraq war, handed himself in to US forces, but that they released him after questioning," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two senior US senators called on the White House to quickly break the news to the US public that American troops will have to remain in Iraq for at least half a decade, maybe much longer, at the cost of untold billions of dollars," reported the AFP news service.
"An explosion targeted a US patrol in a Baghdad suburb yesterday, hitting a military vehicle and inflicting American and Iraqi casualties. The blast was another sign that hit-and-run attacks against US and British forces were becoming more frequent and more sophisticated and could pose a serious challenge to the coalition," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Syria said on Wednesday it has protested to Washington over what United States officials have described as a military strike near the Iraq-Syrian border last week in which several Syrian border guards were wounded. In the first official reaction from Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency (Sana) said Syria had demanded that the United States return ... the wounded soldiers to continue their treatment at a Syrian hospital to avoid any misunderstanding that might lead to an escalation that both sides do not desire," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair's powerful communications chief acknowledged on Wednesday that the British government made a mistake by including material from a graduate thesis posted on the Internet in a government dossier on Iraq's weapons capability. Alastair Campbell told the Foreign Affairs Committee...that the inclusion of material from the graduate thesis in a dossier published in February was regrettable. But he rejected accusations that he redrafted intelligence reports on Saddam Hussein's arsenal to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraqi weapons in another dossier as complete and utter nonsense," reported the AP news agency.
"The Australian government moved quickly yesterday to quash an allegation that the spiritual leader of Australia's Islamic community had been subjected to humiliating and discriminatory treatment by Customs officers. The man known as Australia's Grand Mufti, Egyptian-born Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, 62, wrote to Prime Minister John Howard complaining about the incident in which it was alleged he was victimised because of who he is. The allegation, with its undertones of racial discrimination, had further angered Australia's Islamic community, already concerned about new anti-terrorist legislation it saw as targeting Muslims," reported the AFP news service.
"Former US senator Strom Thurmond, the fiery former segregationist whose career in Congress spanned nearly half a century, died late on Thursday in his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina," reported the AFP news service.
"The US Congress yesterday approved a sweeping overhaul of Medicare, the health care plan for elderly Americans – the first revamping of the programme in 40 years. The overhaul would significantly expand retirees' access to prescription drugs, while reducing drug costs for many Medicare recipients," reported the AFP news service.
"Gays across America welcomed a Supreme Court decision on Thursday that legalised anal and oral sex in their homes, and experts said the ruling could pave the way for eventually legalising gay marriage. The ruling was lauded from New York's Greenwich Village to San Francisco's Castro district. Conservative groups denounced it as a defeat for public morality. Marty Kantougay, a gay man in New York, called it, the best thing that's ever happened, even better than sliced white bread," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Six million children in poor countries who die from preventable illnesses each year could be saved but intervention and treatments are not reaching them, health experts said yesterday. Fifty percent of the deaths in children occur in six countries – India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. The illnesses they die from range from diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition to malaria and HIV/AIDS which can be prevented or treated," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli soldiers hunting a top Hamas bombmaker raided two homes yesterday, killing three gunmen and a bystander in a fire fight and undercutting efforts by Palestinian leaders to wrap up a deal with armed groups on a three-month suspension of attacks on Israelis," reported the AP news agency.
"A UN terrorism committee found no evidence of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda network, which it said on Thursday had sprouted a third generation of suicide bombers in Morocco and elsewhere. The committee, charged with reporting on al-Qaeda and remnants of Afghanistan's Taliban, released a 42-page report on the state of international terrorism following the Sept 11 attacks.
"A militant who is suspected of masterminding the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh has been arrested, state radio reported on Thursday. Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi surrendered voluntarily to police, an Interior Ministry official said, according to Radio Riyadh, which is based in the capital," reported the AP news agency.
