Agence France-Presse (AFP)

"Hundreds of Pakistanis staged rallies against President Pervez Musharraf in a day of protests after he reneged on his pledge to quit as army chief." [more]

Sentenced to three years in prison, Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne was also demoted to the rank of private, ordered to forfeit all pay and handed a dishonourable discharge at a court martial in the Iraqi capital, the army said. [more]

With more than 90 people killed in the last three days in a spike of unrest despite the end of US-led assaults on rebel cities south and west of Baghdad, Sunni Muslim Iraqis also stepped up calls to delay January's landmark polls. [more]

Iraq and neighbours Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey signed off on the document in a closed-door meeting Monday, with the Egyptian hosts turning down any last-minute amendments. The text was put to the rest of the delegates Tuesday for approval. [more]

"We are all encouraged. We reaffirmed our determination to work with the Palestinian leadership to support the election" for a successor to Arafat, UN chief Kofi Annan told reporters. [more]

"Last week, the Nyala relocations prompted a chorus of international condemnation, with the United States accusing Khartoum of violating UN principles concerning internally displaced people and UN security council resolutions on Darfur." [more]

"A United Nations team has begun investigating allegations of genocide against the Sudanese Government as ethnic-minority rebels accuse the army and its militia allies of destroying the evidence of mass graves in Darfur." [more]

The British government formally withdrew one of the key arguments it had used for invading Iraq, as it faced demands in parliament for a "full apology" on how it presented the case for war. [more]

Nicholas Burns said NATO defense ministers meeting here were likely to instruct the alliance military leadership to report back in February on how to bring NATO and US military operations under a single NATO command. [more]

"(The force) is evolving into a mission to maintain peace... with probable logistical support from the United States," Thiam explained. [more]

Qorei's announcement, which came 10 days after he tendered his resignation, followed extensive mediation efforts by MPs who said they had secured an agreement by Arafat to implement reforms and crack down on corruption. [more]

Their transfer had been requested by the French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who has been investigating the men since November 2002 on possible terrorism charges, and was approved after France gave guarantees that they will face judicial proceedings. [more]

Officials have warned that failure to secure a compromise by Friday could set back efforts to pry open multi-billion dollar agriculture markets, especially for poor countries, by years. [more]

"Anti-virus experts have been warning for months that mobile phone viruses are set to multipy, given the increasingly diverse uses of mobile phones." [more]

"The latest allegations will be an unwelcome blow to Malaysia, which was also embroiled in a scandal over the nuclear black market earlier this year." [more]

"An Iraqi has died of his wounds after US troops beat him with truncheons because he refused to remove a picture of wanted Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr from his car, police said today." [more]

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Sunday for more international money to help rebuild his war-ravaged country and admitted he was frustrated that Iraq was getting much more." [more]

"The Stalinist state's official news agency accused Washington of 'driving the military situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war' with plans for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea." [more]

"The independent An-Nahar in Lebanon said the United States wanted the summit to fail in order to ensure that its own initiative would have no competition./ 'American pressure undermined the summit,' it charged, since Washington was 'indisposed by an Arab document on reforms since it wants to impose its "Greater Middle East" initiaitive.'" [more]

"'That they deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride,' Kwasniewski said." [more]

"While neither the group nor the individuals had current links to New Zealand, Clark said the move 'will serve to deter New Zealanders from becoming inadvertently involved in their activities.'" [more]

"Aristide flew out from the same airport with US help on Sunday morning, under pressure from a mounting insurrection and abandoned by the international community. Aristide's departure 'was the result of perfect co-ordination' between Washington and Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said." [more]

"Mugabe told the opening it was time to rediscover the spirit of the founders the G15 and that developing countries were threatened by arrogant leaders of the industrialized world." [more]

" 'Piracy is like terrorism today and it exists everywhere and it is a very dangerous phenomenon.' "` [more]

"Normally groups on the terrorism blacklist have their assets frozen and their members are subject to visa bans. In addition, US citizens and people under US jurisdiction are prohibited from giving contributions to those groups." [more]

"More than four months after US President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq, former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said facts presented by Iraq in the 12,000-page document may have been accurate." [more]

"The protestors were occupying the house in Mashah, near the town of Qalqiliya, in a bid to stop the Israelis bulldozing the Palestinian owner's garden to build the fence cutting off the West Bank from Israel." [more]

A UNICEF official said that "the casualties were the result of handling arms, ammunition and cluster bombs dumped at several hundred sites around Iraq. Hundreds of surface-to-air missiles abandoned by the now-disbanded Iraqi army, many of them damaged and unstable, also pose a serious threat." [more]

"The United States put monetary muscle behind its vehement opposition to the International Criminal Court, suspending more than 47 million dollars in military aid to 35 countries for their failure or refusal to give US citizens immunity from the tribunal." [more]

"The conservative Sunni Muslim town has been a flashpoint since US troops shot dead at least 16 Iraqis at a demonstration in late April." [more]

"A US defense official with knowledge of the intelligence that led to the strike, said reports that Saddam or his sons were hit were 'wishful thinking.' " [more]

"Residents of Karrada Dakhel commercial street said the explosion occurred in a large garbage bin which caught fire." [more]

"Liberian rebels signed a long-awaited ceasefire with President Charles Taylor's government to end a devastating four-year civil war which has spread havoc across west Africa." [more]

"UN peacekeepers will be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo starting next week. According to diplomatic sources, the United States would vote in favor of a resolution forming a peacekeeping force and would support it but would not participate." [more]

"Israel's unprecedented recognition of Palestinian statehood aspirations, with its acceptance Sunday of the so-called roadmap, cleared the way for Bush to host a June summit between Sharon and Abbas." [more]

"A top humanitarian agency urged US and British forces to do more to restore security in Iraq as the five opposition leaders tapped by Washington to form the core of a new government were due to meet." [more]

"US soldiers stripped four suspected Iraqi thieves naked and burned their clothes before pushing them into the street." [more]

"US officials are treading cautiously in naming an interim administration to represent Iraq's mosaic of a population. They have distanced themselves from self-proclaimed Baghdad governor Mohammad Mohsen Zubeidi and remained cool to key opposition figure Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress." [more]

"At least 10 people were killed and scores wounded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul when US troops fired on a crowd angered by a speech by the new US-backed governor, witnesses reported." [more]

"Another commentator, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a leading Pakistani journalist and expert on Afghan affairs, said many members of the clan had left the tribal area to seek work in the Gulf states and the Middle East making them relatively well off." [more]

"Police in San Francisco arrested 116 anti-war activists as a fresh round of rowdy protests erupted on the US West Coast at the start of the US 'shock and awe' air war in Iraq." [more]

"According to UN figures, Afghanistan now produces three-quarters of the world's opium, much of which finds its way on to the streets of Europe and the United States as lethally addictive heroin." [more]

"From New York to Hollywood via Chicago and Colorado, anti-war protestors took to the streets in the broadest display so far of American public dissent to a military strike on Iraq." [more]

"Weekend protests worldwide by millions of anti-war activists delivered a stinging rebuke to Washington and its allies on their hard-line advance towards war." [more]

"Long queues of men from 12 mainly Muslim states and North Korea formed Friday outside immigration offices across the United States to beat a registration deadline under new anti-terrorist regulations." [more]

"The US military today firmly denied allegations of torture and mistreatment of suspected al-Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan, claiming detention procedures were misreported by a leading US newspaper." [more]

" 'The fear of mass illegal arrests created by these detentions will obviously inhibit compliance by people facing similar registration deadlines in the near future,' the groups said. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the lawsuit." [more]

"Muslim leaders were outraged by the registration programme and arrests, saying that the system would not help uncover terrorists living in the United States." [more]

"Men from the designated countries who were 16 years or older and had overstayed their student, tourist or business visas were arrested immediately, even if they had applied already for legal residency." [more]

"All of those questioned during the raids in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne had local connections to Abu Bakar Bashir, the Indonesian cleric who heads the outlawed Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah (JI)." [more]

"The United States has offered Israel a huge aid package to shield its economy from the fallout of any military action against Iraq, a senior official revealed Monday as a Tel Aviv daily spoke of a request for loan guarantees totalling 10 billion dollars." [more]

"Pakistan is preparing for its second test of a nuclear-capable missile in less than a week, with general elections three days away, local media reported on Monday." [more]

"LA police officials said the demonstration there was the largest so far against Washington's Iraq policy. In downtown San Francisco, some 5,000 people protested in the city's Union Square area." [more]

"It is absurd for the United States to demand democracy and respect for human rights only when it applies to others," Bernal said. [more]

"Indonesia does not need US military assistance in its campaign against terrorism since the country's armed forces are powerful enough to carry out the task, Defence Minister Matori Abdul Jalil said today. 'America knows exactly how powerful our armed forces are,' Jalil told a press briefing before this week's visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell." [more]

"Saad bin Laden has been in charge of the organisation 'since the US offensive against al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan,' which began in October, and al-Qaeda's pullout from its main hideouts in the country. This disclosure 'substantiates the theory that bin Laden was killed or seriously wounded' in the US-led military campaign." [more]

"The government had said the kidnapping group had been decimated after some 1,000 US troops were deployed to the south to help train and assist local troops in their hunt for the kidnappers. However, on Thursday, Abu Solaiman, a leader of the group, read a statement over local radio stations threatening new attacks on US interests." [more]

"Mr. Karzai had apparently hoped that drawing such a powerful regional leader away from his power base and into the governmental fold in Kabul would strengthen security. Instead his killing could create a dangerous power vacuum in the east." [more]

" 'No one has ever seen pressure like this before,' said Jeffrey Dvorkin of NPR. 'In the last three months I've received 14,000 e-mails and 9,000 of them deal with the Middle East,' he said. 'E-mail traffic in the last month has overwhelmingly accused us of having a pro-Palestinian bias.' " [more]

"The 'unsigning' of the treaty, which is expected to be announced on Monday, will be a decisive rejection by the White House of the concept of a permanent tribunal designed to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes, the New York Times reported." [more]

"United States and British troops came under rocket attack at the Khost airport in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. The Pakistan-based private news agency quoted residents as saying that three rockets were fired after midnight, with one landing at the airport and two others nearby." [more]

" 'The Maoists' casualty should be between 550 to 600 in surface and air attacks at a training camp where the terrorists had gathered for training and preparation strategy,' said the official." [more]

"The delegation of 12 men and women, which included survivors of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, was initially invited to Towers High School in South DeKalb County on Wednesday to give a history lesson about the bombing. But DeKalb County school officials asked several members of the group to leave the school grounds after they were handed a flier they said the group was distributing in the Atlanta area, warning of nuclear 'destruction' and the potential use of nuclear weapons by the United States." [more]

"Major Bryan Hilferty said the attack occurred yesterday but there were no injuries and it was unclear who fired the rocket. 'One of our forward operating bases came under attack yesterday in eastern Afghanistan. A rocket landed nearby,' he said." [more]

"If you want to undertake an action and be ready to face up to challenges, you need at least $100 billion," [Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid] told the Abu Dhabi Government's Al-Ittihad newspaper when asked why Egypt had taken no measures against Israel's military offensive against the Palestinians." [more]

" 'This suicide operation is a response to the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,' said a document, which the newspaper claimed was a genuine Al-Qaeda statement." [more]

"At least nine people have been killed in heavy fighting in Afghanistan's central Wardak province between two warlords vying for control of the region, according to Afghan Islamic Press reports. The clash, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Kabul, began Friday when Muzaffaruddin, a Northern Alliance commander, launched an attack on local rival Ghulam Rohani Nangiali, AIP said." [more]

"Israeli troops seized control of [Bethlehem] in their drive against Palestinian towns, reportedly shooting dead a Catholic priest and wounding at least six nuns in a church." [more]

"The Americans would need 'at least a battalion,' the general said. A battalion comprises around 800 to 1000 soldiers. He said that if Manila agreed to more deployments, it would have to be under another military exercise because the terms of reference of the ongoing campaign against the Abu Sayyaf sets limits on the number of US participants." [more]

"Mohamad Murad, top military commander and number two overall of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said that as US and Filipino troops spread out across the southern island of Basilan, they could encroach on what the Milf considers to be its territory." [more]

"An Israeli F-16 jet which bombed a Palestinian police compound in Gaza City today narrowly missed more than 3,100 refugee children in UN-run schools, a UN spokeswoman said." [more]

"Thirty US military personnel have been killed in the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, nine of them from hostile fire and the remainder in air crashes and other accidents, according to US defense officials." [more]

"The planes have been flying since Saturday on their 'first operational mission' in the area and two missions were underway Monday, Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Bon, a French air force spokesman based in Kyrgyzstan, said." [more]

India and Pakistan have massed an estimated 800,000 troops on their common border since military tensions escalated in the wake of a December attack on the Indian parliament, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups. Despite a landmark speech by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month in which he banned five militant groups and instigated a crackdown that led to the arrest of around 2,000 alleged religious extremists, India has insisted that Pakistan has not done enough to warrant a de-escalation at the border. [more]

"Former Iraqi army chief of staff General Nizar Khazraji has been picked by the United States to run Iraq after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein." [more]

"The fighting has fuelled fears that Afghanistan could descend into factional chaos following the collapse of the Taliban regime last year despite the creation of Karzai's UN-backed interim government in December." [more]

"A tribal leader in eastern Afghanistan threatened on Sunday to launch a war against Afghan Interim Setup Chairman Hamid Karzai if US jets launched another attack on his area, Afghan Islamic Press reported." [more]

"A planned womenís freedom march through the streets of Kabul on Tuesday was banned on the orders of Northern Alliance interior minister Younis Qanooni, organiser Soraya Parlika said." [more]