"Talks on Iraq's interim constitution are to resume tomorrow after consultations over the weekend, Iraqi leaders said yesterday, a day after last-minute objections blocked the document's planned signing," reported the AFP news service.
"Osama bin Laden likes poetry and volleyball, had squabbles with his children, and banned any American conveniences like ice and soft drinks, according to a Canadian TV documentary on a family that had close ties to the al-Qaeda leader until 2001," reported the AP news agency.
"Fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recently escaped a sweep by Pakistani troops hunting for Taliban fighters and is hiding near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border," reported the AFP news service.
"Gao Zhan, a scholar who was freed from a Chinese prison after the United States interceded intensely on her behalf, received a seven-month sentence in a US jail for selling computer equipment with potential military uses to China," reported the AP news agency.
"Israeli troops traded heavy fire with Palestinian gunmen near the Bureij refugee camp refugee camp yesterday, a day after militants staged an elaborate attack on soldiers elsewhere in Gaza. Fourteen Palestinians were killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in Gaza in 17 months," reported the AP news agency.
"Rocket fire hit the area around a landmark hotel in the grounds of the US-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad late yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"An Iraqi Shi'ite politician said yesterday that a deal had been struck on Iraq's interim constitution after talks at the home of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the religious leader who holds an effective veto over the document," reported the AFP news service.
"President George W. Bush's re-election campaign team said on Sunday it had no plans to withdraw campaign ads with footage of the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks despite furious criticism from Democrats and some victims' relatives. Debate over the images has dominated the early days of Bush's race against Democratic challenger John Kerry, who criticised on Sunday the president's handling of the Haitian crisis and said he would likely send a fact-finding mission to Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Hamas threatened revenge yesterday, after 14 Palestinians were killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in Gaza in 17 months – part of an upsurge in bloodshed linked to a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip. Among the dead were 11 militants and three boys between the ages of eight and 15, and 81 people were wounded. The fighting near the Bureij refugee camp on Sunday pitted hundreds of Palestinians with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and grenade launchers against Israeli snipers and troops firing from helicopters and tanks," reported the AP news agency.
"The UN atomic watchdog met yesterday to tackle violations by Iran and Libya of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, aided by a global black market linked to the father of Pakistan's atom bomb. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters before a closed-door meeting of the board of governors that he would detail two important cases of violation of the non-proliferation regime, these are by Libya and Iran," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US-financed Arabic television channel Alhurra is forbidden for Muslims, a leading Saudi cleric declared in a fatwa or Islamic ruling published yesterday. This channel is a source of corruption intended to fight Islam and support American hegemony," reported the AFP news service.
"US military forces in Afghanistan have mistreated detainees, arbitrarily detained civilians and used excessive force in arresting non-combatants, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released yesterday. The rights watchdog said the US-administered system of arrest and detention in Afghanistan exists outside of the rule of law. The US is setting a terrible example in Afghanistan on detention practices," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraq's Governing Council signed an interim constitution yesterday, a key step towards a planned handover of sovereignty by US-led occupation forces to Iraqis on June 30. The signing took place at a hastily arranged ceremony in Baghdad after Shi'ite members of the 25-member council dropped their objections to the document over the weekend," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have tentatively agreed to hold a summit next week, their first meeting since the Palestinian leader took office in October, Israeli and Palestinian officials said yesterday. The delayed summit is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, a Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity," reported the AP news agency.
"Iran's foreign minister said yesterday that his country will resume uranium enrichment once its problems with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are resolved and warned European partners it could end nuclear co-operation if they fail to support Teheran," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraqi leaders put their differences behind them and their heads together yesterday to work out who will lead the country from July, as fears grew of more attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq's transition to democracy. As the political process moved forward, the offices of a major Shi'ite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, were bombed in the volatile town of Baquba and an errant US mortar bomb killed one civilian and wounded another near Mosul. Hostility towards Iraq's new interim constitution remains high," reported the AFP news service.
"Abu Abbas, the Palestinian who led the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in which a wheelchair-bound American hostage was killed, has died in US custody," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was preparing yesterday a rigorous defence of his controversial plan to disengage from the Palestinians as his army chief sought to play down reports of a rift over the subject," reported the AFP news service.
"Five Britons jailed for more than two years at the US Guantanamo base in Cuba headed home on Tuesday – posing anti-terror police a dilemma over whether to release them to families or keep them behind bars," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Angered by tough remarks by the head of the United Nation's atomic watchdog, conservative Iranian politicians warned that Teheran may cease co-operation with nuclear inspectors, newspapers reported yesterday. One senior conservative legislator said Iran could follow North Korea's example by pulling out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The pressure from America is mainly political and is aimed at depriving Iran of nuclear knowledge. This will lead Iran to reconsider its nuclear co-operation. Iran insists its nuclear programme is aimed at generating electricity, not making bombs as Washington alleges," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A unified Iraq remained a distant goal yesterday after an interim constitution sparked opposition from the country's Shi'ite spiritual guide as well as a group of lawmakers who had signed on the dotted line. As the US-led coalition pushed ahead with plans to hand back sovereignty to a caretaker Iraqi government, Shi'ite Governing Council member Abdel Aziz Hakim was preparing to hold a news conference to explain why he and a group of colleagues still had concerns about the temporary law," reported the AFP news service.
