"Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark called on Friday for an independent probe of the Bush administration's use of intelligence before the Iraq war, calling it twisted and possibly criminal," reported the Reuters news agency.
"California's extraordinary polls on Tuesday aimed at sacking its embattled governor have spawned a welter of jokes at the expense of the candidates, led by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger," reported the AFP news service.
"After getting a bruising from media in his adopted country, Arnold Schwarzenegger received a boost from the press of his native Austria, where reports said he helped break up a neo-Nazi rally. Dual allegations of groping women and Hitler-lauding have threatened to engulf the Republican actor's gubernatorial campaign days before the recall ballot, with women's groups and religious leaders on Friday vowing an all-out effort to stop Schwarzenegger," reported the AP news agency.
"A Saudi woman has been made a dean at a university in Saudi Arabia for the first time in the conservative Muslim kingdom, where women are still banned from driving. Saudi Arabia is a religious state where women are restricted in all spheres of life by religion and tradition. They cannot appear unveiled in public and are prohibited from travelling abroad or inside the country without a male escort," reported the AP news agency.
"A prominent German cardinal called on Friday for respect for the privacy of Pope John Paul amid a flurry of media reports that the 83-year old pontiff was nearing death," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A stone-throwing mob of ex-Iraqi soldiers charged US forces and Iraqi police here yesterday in a protest over jobs and pay in which a protester was killed and 25 people were injured, including two policemen. In similar violence in the southern city of Basra, at least one protester was shot and killed by British forces," reported the AP news agency.
"Russian troops in Chechnya imposed a security clampdown yesterday to prevent rebel attacks as fear gripped the republic on the eve of a presidential election that the Kremlin's handpicked candidate and current administrator, Akhmad Kadyrov, is set to win. But critics say the election is nothing but a fig leaf, a way for the Kremlin to legitimise Kadyrov as the man in charge of the restive Caucasus republic and to further marginalise rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, whom Chechens elected president in 1997," reported the AFP news service.
"Anti-globalisation demonstrators set fire to an employment agency, smashed cars and windows and hurled insults at government headquarters here yesterday as they gathered to protest against a European Union summit," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian woman blew herself up in a crowded beachfront restaurant at lunchtime yesterday, killing herself and 19 bystanders, including three children, in one of the deadliest attacks in the past three years and prompting new calls for Yasser Arafat's expulsion. About 55 people were wounded in the attack on the Maxim Restaurant, co-owned by Arabs and Jews, in this northern port city," reported the AP news agency.
"A Palestinian diplomat unveiled plans on Friday to ask the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding that Israel reverse a decision to extend a security wall deeper into the West Bank. Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa said he would ask Arab nations tomorrow to approve a draft resolution and request an emergency Security Council meeting to consider it. The draft resolution would make the point that the planned security barrier is illegal and should be stopped," reported the Reuters news agency.
"They used to be able to look out and see Kfar Saba across the fields. Now, Palestinians look west and instead of seeing that central Israeli city, their view is curtailed by an 8m-high grey wall. The wall, which the Qalqilyans dubbed our Berlin Wall, runs for about 3km along the green line separating the West Bank from Israel. The barrier, which mostly is a fence although about 5% of it consists of an anti-gunfire wall, snakes along the green line, but in order to protect as many settlements as possible, cuts up to 7km deep into the West Bank in some areas," reported the dpa news agency.
"The US military practises shooting down hijacked commercial airliners up to four times a week and has scrambled jets to intercept civilian flights more than 1,500 times – almost always on false alarms – since Sept 11 2001, it was reported on Friday. The practice drills involve simulated hijackings on board chartered airliners filled with troops. Alarms sounded by the squawk buttons in the pilots' cockpit or deviations in the airliners' scheduled route are picked up in the headquarters of the North American aerospace defence command, or Norad," reported the Guardian.
"French schools are cracking down on a craze among teenage girls to flash their midriffs and wear skimpy G-strings that peek brazenly out from above their low-cut trousers. A number of head teachers in France – where school uniforms are practically unheard of – have slapped a ban on showing off thongs and tummies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Representatives of the UN nuclear watchdog have left Iran after reaching total agreement on measures to prove the country's nuclear programme is peaceful, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday. Ali Akbar Salehi said the IAEA delegation left Teheran on Friday with complete satisfaction," reported the AP news agency.
"Omanis went to the polls in the Gulf Arab state's first free elections yesterday, electing an advisory Shura Council in a vote diplomats see as a step towards wider political reforms. Sultan Qaboos bin Said extended voting rights to all citizens aged 21 or over last year to end restrictions which had allowed only a quarter of the 1.8 million population to vote for the 83-member consultative Shura Council," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An enraged Ethiopian mother of five will be tried for the murder of her husband who died after she crushed his testicles in a fight, police told the state-run Ethiopian News Agency. Police said the man was so embarrassed after the incident that he declined to seek treatment for the injury and died days later," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Athens, host of the Olympics next year, launched a plan to sterilise more than 10,000 stray dogs ahead of the Games in measures condemned by animal rights groups as ill thought-out and insufficient. The city said the 1.8 million euro project would halt the growth of a huge population of stray dogs roaming the streets of the capital before the start of the Olympics," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine President Gloria Arroyo announced yesterday that she was running for president in the May 2004 elections, reversing an earlier pledge not to run," reported the AFP news service.
"Thirty Israeli and foreign pacifists took up position on Saturday at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah to act as human shields against possible Israeli retaliation for the latest suicide bombing," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli forces attacked a training camp for Palestinian militants inside Syria yesterday following a suicide bombing that killed 19 people in Israel. In its statement, the army did not say whether air or ground forces carried out the attack, believed to be the first such strike in two decades. Palestinian sources in Beirut said Israeli warplanes raided a facility that belonged to an anti-Israel Palestinian group near the Syrian capital Damascus, injuring one man," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Women failed to make gains on Oman's advisory council, barely managing to hold on to two seats in the first elections open to all citizens of the conservative Gulf sultanate. None of the 13 other women candidates who vied for seats with 491 men made a breakthrough in or outside the capital, the initial results released by the Interior Ministry showed," reported the AFP news service.
"War-weary voters in Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya went to the polls yesterday in a presidential election all but certain to be won by the Kremlin's handpicked man. Under clear, blue sunny skies in the bombed-out Chechen capital, police and federal troops armed with automatic weapons were teeming at the polling stations, searching those entering with metal detectors," reported the AFP news service.
"Poland apologised to France on Saturday for saying its troops had found advanced French-made missiles in Iraq which had been produced this year. The report sparked criticism from French President Jacques Chirac, who called it wrong and drawn up without proper checks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A half-century ago, communist spies were the whipping boys. Now, with the war on terror revving up, a ranking Republican lawmaker has blamed the presence of a US Muslim organisation in his neighbourhood for stress that undermined his 50-year marriage. In a swift response, the council called on leaders of the Republican Party to publicly repudiate Ballenger's bigoted statements and strip him of his committee seat. Ballenger's statements are a perfect example of Islamophobic hysteria at the highest levels of government," reported the AFP news service.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger went on the attack, denouncing the latest sexual harassment allegations made against him and charging that all the 11th-hour accusations were intended to wreck his campaign for governor," reported the AP news agency.
"Australian Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday he wasn't upset by reports that he was erroneously referred to by the name of a former British prime minister in White House briefing notes for US journalists. Australian media reported last week that in notes for journalists set to accompany US President George W. Bush on his Asian tour this month, the White House mistakenly refers to Howard as John Major," reported the AP news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair privately conceded before the war with Iraq that it had no quickly deployable chemical weapons, despite publicly claiming that Saddam Hussein's arsenal posed a serious threat, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said yesterday. the Sunday Times said the revelations shattered the case for war put forward by Britain, including the claim that Iraq posed a serious and current threat," reported the AFP news service.
"British troops fired rubber bullets yesterday to disperse hundreds of former soldiers in Saddam Hussein's army who rioted here, hurling rocks and setting tyres ablaze. The protesters gathered early yesterday after a British soldier shot dead an armed Iraqi man here on Saturday during clashes with former soldiers who had gathered to collect redundancy payments for being laid off from the Iraqi army," reported the Reuters news agency.
"While President Bill Clinton was trying to broker an elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the FBI was secretly funneling money to suspected Hamas figures to see if the militant group would use it for terrorist attacks, according to interviews and court documents. One of the FBI's key operatives, who has had a falling out with the bureau, provided an account of the operation at a friend's closed immigration court proceeding," reported the AP news agency.
"Syria demanded that the UN Security Council condemn Israel's air strike against a purported terrorist training camp near Damascus, but the United States said it would not support any resolution that does not also criticise attacks against Israel. US ambassador John Negroponte focused his condemnation on the Haifa attack, while blaming Syria for harbouring terrorists. The Islamic militant group Hamas said it fired 16 mortar shells at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip overnight in retaliation for the Israeli air strike. Hamas also said it would carry out more attacks in Israel," reported the AP news agency.
"The number of people living in slums worldwide has reached one billion and will double by 2030 unless serious action is taken by governments, says a new United Nations report released yesterday. The Challenge of Slums, a report by the UN Habitat agency, says national and local governments are doing little or no planning to accommodate the expected growth in urban populations or provide services to existing slums," reported the dpa news agency.
"Iran said yesterday it will give the UN nuclear watchdog a list of components imported for enriching uranium, which Washington says is the heart of a secret atomic weapons programme. But Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Akbar Salehi said Teheran, which has been given until Oct 31 to dispel doubts about its atomic aims, could not say exactly where the parts came from," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Algerian pilot who was falsely accused of being involved in the Sept 11 terror attacks won a public apology and undisclosed damages from a British newspaper at London's High Court yesterday. Lotfi Raissi, 29, who has also filed separate claims against the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Justice Department, won the case against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Mail on Sunday, which carried the allegations," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Paul Lauterbur, 74, of the United States and Peter Mansfield of Britain, who turns 70 this week, were recognised for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The two scientists who developed a non-invasive method of imaging internal human organs that has revolutionised medical diagnosis won the Nobel prize for medicine this year," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In Brisbane, euthanasia advocates yesterday unveiled do-it-yourself machines, designed to bring death within minutes to anyone suffering a terminal illness. Society president John Todd said the machines were part of a campaign to get governments to look seriously at voluntary euthanasia legislation," reported the AFP news service.
"Chechnya's Kremlin-appointed leader was declared the winner yesterday in the region's presidential vote, a widely expected outcome after his main challengers withdrew or were removed from an election condemned by critics as a sham but promoted by Moscow as a step toward peace," reported the AP news agency.
"In Brisbane, police officer convinced members of a strict Christian sect to photograph themselves naked, telling them they were to be operatives for an undercover investigation to smash a paedophile ring, a court heard. James Arthur Marriner, 43, was yesterday sentenced to five years in jail by the Brisbane District Court after he was convicted of 14 offences, including assault, indecent assault, fraud and extortion," reported the AFP news service.
"An election once touted as a bold gamble with direct democracy is ending on a sour note – instead of a debate on the future of the state, the final burning issues of the California recall are whether one leading candidate groped women and praised Adolf Hitler. Issues have disappeared into the thin air of name calling as critics complained the two-month-long, 135-candidate campaign costing US$60mil has degenerated into a political circus," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A British magician apparently played a deadly game of Russian roulette with a loaded pistol on a television show on Sunday despite criticism the stunt could lead to copycats. The show by self-styled psychological illusionist Derren Brown was broadcast on Channel Four television, which said there would be a slight tape delay so transmission could be quickly ended if he blew his head off. Brown carried out his stunt in an unnamed foreign country, since handguns are illegal in Britain," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Beer fans drank the equivalent of six Olympic-sized swimming pools during the two-week Oktoberfest in Germany, close to the annual event's record, organisers said. The world's biggest beer festival, which ended on Sunday, reported a jump in attendance as well as beer consumption after a two-year decline following the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A 14-year-old New Zealand girl has won a school environmental award for a project that, if turned into a commercial proposition, could save millions of dollars worldwide. The project involves turning used disposable baby nappies, also known as diapers, into compost," reported the dpa news agency.
"When the British government simulated a chemical attack on the London underground last month, officials were aiming to test equipment as well as to reassure the public. The Guardian newspaper has learned that officials from London's Fire Brigades Union will submit a report warning ministers that communications were poor, and that steps were taken which, in a genuine gas attack, would have endangered the lives of emergency crews," reported the Guardian.
"The father of a soldier killed in Iraq demanded yesterday that Tony Blair stay away from a national memorial service for the British dead, accusing him of being a puppet of Mr Bush," reported the dpa news agency.
"Turkey's Cabinet agreed yesterday to send troops to Iraq to help stabilise the country – a decision that could relieve US operations in Iraq and help Turkey mend frayed relations with the United States. But the decision now faces a tough approval from parliament, which is likely to vote on the issue this week. If approved, Turkey would become the first predominantly Muslim nation to contribute troops to Iraq," reported the AP news agency.
"The White House has demanded a shake-up of the oversight of US efforts to suppress unrest in Iraq and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported yesterday, citing senior administration officials. The creation of the group appears to place more responsibility and control with Rice and the White House as US soldiers remain under attack in Iraq and the Taliban militias that formerly ruled Afghanistan appear to be re-organising," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The main opposition Conservative Party mustered at its annual convention yesterday, still struggling in the opinion polls but hoping to profit from Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent slump in popularity. Anger over the war in Iraq and the US-led coalition's failure to find weapons of mass destruction have damaged Blair's credibility," reported the AP news agency.
"California's recall election looked too close to call hours from the start of polling yesterday in the race for governor in which Republican muscleman-turned-Hollywood-film-star Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to unseat technocrat Democrat Gray Davis. Californians had to decide whether to oust Davis, famous for his lack of charisma and dedication to fund-raising, then pick from 135 replacement candidates, including the actor," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Californians banished their governor, Gray Davis, just 11 months into his second term and elected action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him Tuesday - a Hollywood ending to one of the most extraordinary political melodramas in the United States' history," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistan on Wednesday test fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile, the second such test in less than a week, the army said. The army said it successfully fired off the Hatf-4 missile, also known as the Shaheen 1, in the early morning hours. The missile has a range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), meaning it can hit most major targets in rival India," reported the AP news agency.
"A fire in an annex to Thailand's Parliament destroyed tables and equipment early Wednesday, but there was no injury," reported the AP news agency.
"The Web site Sina.com said China will send its first person into space on Oct. 15 in a single-orbit, 90-minute flight," reported the AP news agency.
"Leftist guerrillas assassinated two town mayors in southeastern Colombia after they met with the rebels in a mountain hideout to deny alleged ties to right-wing paramilitary factions," reported the AP news agency.
"The Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to pay $540,000 to a former finance manager to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that led to a criminal investigation of fraud allegations at the world's largest beverage maker," reported the AP news agency.
"Several all-new or redesigned automobiles have achieved higher customer-satisfaction ratings than the previous versions or models they replaced, according to a study released Tuesday by J.D. Power and Associates," reported the AP news agency.
"A new-look Australian Cabinet was sworn in yesterday as Prime Minister John Howard sought to revive his conservative government's flagging popularity after a series of post-Iraq war setbacks. Like his close ally US President George W. Bush, Howard has seen a steady erosion of what was once considered an unassailable lead in opinion polls, as preparations heat up for a general election next year," reported the AFP news service.
"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, once a devoted and energetic champion of Arab unity, announced this weekend his definitive separation from the Arabs, whom he heavily criticised. Standing before a group of women, in a Mediterranean villa in Syrte about 500km east of Tripoli, Gaddafi declared himself more than ever African, claiming to be forever beyond nationalism and Arab unity," reported the AFP news service.
"Rich nations need to do much more to help developing countries tackle endemic corruption, the head of a global graft watchdog urged yesterday at the launch of a new report on sleaze. In contrast, a perception of corruption grew in Argentina, Belarus, Chile, Israel, Poland, the United States and Zimbabwe," reported the AFP news service.
"In Meriden, Connecticut, a woman was convicted on Monday of contributing to the suicide of her 12-year-old son, who hanged himself in his closet with a necktie after being picked on for months at school over his bad breath and body odour," reported the AP news agency.
"Quantum physicists Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg and Anthony J. Leggett yesterday won the 2003 Nobel Physics Prize for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids," reported the AFP news service.
"A stronger-sounding Pope John Paul, making a trip some faithful fear may be his last, appealed for world peace near ancient Pompeii yesterday and asked the faithful to pray for him today and always. The 83-year-old pope had looked very weak and struggled to speak at some events last week, prompting a senior European Cardinal to say he was nearing death. But despite fears for his health he went ahead with the Pompeii visit," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Music is the food of love, according to the bard. And classical music, it seems, may be manna for restaurateurs. The strains of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven played in restaurants make diners feel more affluent and encourage them to spend, according to research released by the University of Leicester in central England yesterday," reported the AP news agency.
"A Contraceptive injection that makes men temporarily sterile without harmful side effects has been 100% effective in human trials, researchers said on Monday. When the hormone treatment was given to 55 men for a year, none of their wives or girlfriends became pregnant. Prof David Handelsman, who tested the contraceptive at the Anzac Research Institute, in Concord, New South Wales, said: The results of this study foreshadow how men may be able to take greater responsibility for contraception in a convenient and effective way," reported the Daily Telegraph.
"US President George W. Bush has designated the Philippines a major US non-Nato ally, establishing the legal foundation for broadening US military and security aid to the country – and bilateral co-operation in the war on terror. The Philippines thus joins an exclusive club of countries that enjoy a privileged security relationship with the United States," reported the AFP news service.
"While President Bill Clinton was trying to broker an elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the FBI was secretly funnelling money to suspected Hamas figures to see if the militant group would use it for terrorist attacks, according to interviews and court documents. The counter-terrorism operation in 1998 and 1999 was run out of the FBI's Phoenix office in co-operation with Israeli intelligence and was approved by Attorney-General Janet Reno," reported the AP news agency.
"Turkish lawmakers voted yesterday to send troops to Iraq at the request of its US occupiers, but Baghdad's Governing Council declared it was opposed to soldiers coming from any neighbour, including Turkey. The Turkish motion did not specify how many troops might be dispatched," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment despite intense pressure from nations worried it is seeking nuclear arms, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency yesterday. A speech from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the same conference also lambasted pressure on Iran's nuclear programme and exhorted people to resist the country's enemies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Iranian intelligence agent went on trial here yesterday for the murder in custody of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi, and his shadowy service was also fingered by the hardline judiciary for trying to cover up the crime," reported the AFP news service.
"Large portions of Baghdad were in turmoil yesterday after three incidents. The first, an explosion inside the Foreign Ministry compound, was followed by former intelligence officers hurling paving stones at American forces as they demanded back pay, and lastly, US soldiers confronted a big demonstration of Shiite Muslims after closing a mosque and allegedly arresting the imam," reported the AP news agency.
"Three US soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed in attacks west of Baghdad, the military said yesterday while in the capital a mortar bomb just missed Iraq's foreign ministry amid continuing unrest six months after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein. The latest bloodshed was reported as Iraq's interim Governing Council reviewed recommendations on the writing of a new constitution, a main pillar of Washington's hope to remake the country as a western-style democracy," reported the AFP news service.
"Tension in the Middle East was further heightened yesterday after an Israeli soldier and a Lebanese child were killed in firing across their border. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei meanwhile made a ceasefire with Israel the top priority of his new government as his emergency Cabinet prepared to hold its first session," reported the AFP news service.
"North Korea said yesterday it would not allow Japan to take part in future talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme, further complicating efforts to coax the communist state back to the negotiating table. Japan, responding swiftly to Pyongyang's surprise announcement, said it would not accept the notion Pyongyang could decide who attends mutually agreed multilateral talks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Police fired in the air to disperse rampaging crowds in the Pakistani city of Jhang yesterday and violence broke out in the capital as followers of a slain Pakistani Sunni militant leader vowed revenge. Azam Tariq, leader of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and a member of parliament, was assassinated in a hail of bullets along with his driver and three bodyguards as he drove into the capital Islamabad on Monday. His death threatens to inflame tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ite Muslims after a wave of sectarian killings in recent months," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Yasser Arafat suffered a mild heart attack last week, but the news was not made public for fear it would create panic, the Guardian newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a close aide to the Palestinian leader," reported the news Agencies.
"Israel was set to mobilise thousands of troops yesterday to be deployed to the West Bank and Gaza after a wave of alerts that Palestinian militants were planning new attacks," reported the AFP news service.
"Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger gave Israel tacit approval to violate a US-Soviet brokered truce in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, according to newly declassified documents released on Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of the start of the conflict. The documents indicate that Kissinger secretly conveyed to the Israelis that Washington would understand if they took a “slightly longer” time in observing a deadline for the UN-backed truce which was due to take effect on the evening of Oct 22, 1973," reported the AFP news service.
"The most senior Taliban leader held by US-forces in Afghanistan has been freed after helping to broker talks between US officials and Taliban fighters. A senior foreign ministry official in southern Afghanistan said Muttawakil had been freed from the US military headquarters at Bagram after helping to arrange talks between US forces and the Taliban in the southern city of Kandahar. Some Taliban officials said they had reports that the talks may have involved the Taliban's former Interior Minister Mullah Abdul Razzak acting without the consent of the organisation's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger swept to power as governor of California on Tuesday, as furious voters ousted the unpopular incumbent in a historic election rocked by drama worthy of a Hollywood movie. The loss of the governorship in the state of 35 million people marks a major blow for the Democratic party ahead of next year's presidential polls. President George W. Bush said earlier he would work with Schwarzenegger if he wins the state's top job," reported the AFP news service.
"Austrians across the political spectrum cheered yesterday as native son Arnold Schwarzenegger, who left for America as a young bodybuilder in 1968, won the governor's office in his new home California," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Schwarzenegger, who has both US and Austrian citizenship, would help Austria's image in the world and Austria's business prospects in a state that has the world's eight-largest economy. People on the street said Schwarzenegger's victory would shine a positive light on Austria, whose image has been marred by two rounds of international protests in the past 20 years linked to the country's Nazi past," reported the Reuters news agency.
"As politicians and pundits digested Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunning victory in California, some saw the vote as a major boost to US President George W. Bush but others doubted the result had national implications," reported the Reuters news agency.
"St Louis University political scientist Joel Goldstein said Schwarzenegger's victory was bound to play out on the national stage. There are risks for the Republicans in this result. If Schwarzenegger can't deal with the fiscal problems he inherits, that may end up hurting them rather than helping. Doug Schoen, a Democratic strategist and former pollster for Clinton, said this was more a vote against Davis than a vote on the basis of what Schwarzenegger stood for," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Maryland's first lady was only joking when she said she would like to shoot pop star Britney Spears, but on Tuesday it was no longer a laughing matter. Kendel Ehrlich, wife of the state's Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich, had been criticising what she viewed as the entertainment industry's negative influence on youth, during a conference last week in the city of Frederick. As a working mother raising a 4-year-old son, the first lady has concerns about the negative influences that the entertainment industry can have on young children and teenagers," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An estimated one in three Americans born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes, according to a study published Tuesday which quantified the health risks from the nation's obesity-related health epidemic. The lifetime-risk is higher for women than for men, and highest among Hispanics, who constitute the United States' largest minority group, and has serious implications in terms of life expectancy," reported the AFP news service.
"Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday he believes US President George W. Bush had a hidden agenda in invading Iraq and had been less than forthright in explaining his reasons for the attack," reported the AP news agency.
"Two Americans yesterday won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for showing how water, the fluid of life, flows through the human body and how cells talk to each other, providing crucial insights into many diseases afflicting humanity. Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon have contributed to fundamental chemical knowledge on how cells function. They have opened our eyes to a fantastic family of molecular machines. Their discoveries have clarified how salts and water are transported out of and into the cells of the body. For example, they have shown how kidneys recover water from primary urine and how the electrical signals in nerve cells are generated and spread," reported the AFP news service.
"The five policemen who were accused of killing anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in 1977 won't be prosecuted because of insufficient evidence. A murder charge could not be supported in part because there were no witnesses to the killing," reported the AP news agency.
"Nearly two-thirds of Israelis approve of a weekend air strike on Syria which provoked international condemnation, according to a poll published yesterday by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily. A Syrian official said the raid had targeted an abandoned camp which had been used by a leftist Palestinian group while Islamic Jihad insisted it had no fighters in the area," reported the AFP news service.
"On Monday, US President George W. Bush sharply distanced himself from international condemnation of the air strike, saying Israel must not feel constrained in defending itself from extremists," reported the AFP news service.
"Arab League secretary-general Amr Mussa on Tuesday hit out at US reaction to a weekend Israeli air strike on Syria warning that the idea that Israel had a right of self-defence beyond its borders would torpedo any hope of peace in the region," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraqis expressed anger yesterday over Turkey's decision to deploy troops in the war-wracked country, as about 3,000 Shiite Muslims staged a militant protest here monitored by nervous US troops. Iraq's Governing Council sharply condemned the planned Turkish deployment, reflecting a growing rift between the interim body and the US-led forces that set it up," reported the AFP news service.
"In the capital, 3,000 militant members of the Shiite majority marched in military formation outside a mosque to demand the release of two clerics who had publicly denounced the Americans. The men, members of the Mehdi Army militia run by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, marched around the Ali al-Bayaa mosque in western Baghdad as uneasy US troops watched on for a while before pulling back," reported the AFP news service.
