Previous Day
Blair denies split with US on Iraq sovereignty
THE US/BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair has emphatically dismissed suggestions of a split with the United States over the sovereign authority to be exercised by the new interim Iraqi government. p
Scientist tipped to be Iraqi premier
IRAQ: The UN envoy to Iraq, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, is expected to name on June 1st an Iraqi transitional administration consisting of a president, two vice-presidents, an executive prime minister and 26 ministers. While negotiations are still taking place with the four principal figures, their names have been released. p
Bleak future for Turkmenistan under dictator
TURKMENISTAN: Saparmurat Niyazov even renamed the words for the month April and bread after his dead mother, writes Lynne O'Donnell from Ashgabad p
France remains opposed to mention of Christianity
FRANCE: France reaffirmed its opposition to any mention of Christianity in the European Constitution yesterday, saying the reference in the preamble text to the continent's religious heritage was sufficient. p
Iraq
Gore demands resignations over Iraq
THE US/IRAQ: Former vice president Mr Al Gore yesterday accused President George Bush of "utter contempt for the rule of law" and called for the immediate resignation of Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld, CIA director Mr George Tenet, and national security adviser Dr Condoleezza Rice. Conor O'Clery in New York pUp to 50 Shia militiamen killed in Najaf
US troops fought Shia fighters in Najaf yesterday leaving several dozen rebel fighters dead and seizing a militia commander. pBasra drinkers a rare and dying breed
It's not easy finding a pint in Basra. Most of the city's alcohol sellers were systematically gunned down by extremists last summer. Religious groups say they will kill the rest and any they find imbibing. Drinkers have become a rare and dying breed. p
Italy divided over funeral of hostage killed in Iraq
ITALY: Was he a true blue, modern day Italian hero or a cynical mercenary who went to Iraq for the pay? More than a month after 36-year-old Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi was killed in Iraq by the militant Islamic group, "Green Falange", Italy is divided over just what form of tribute, if any, should be paid to the former baker, night club bouncer and private security guard. pPutin pledges to double GDP in key speech
RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin used his annual state of the nation address to give Russians an economic pep talk yesterday, while gliding swiftly over the grinding war in Chechnya and the Kremlin's tense relations with the country's billionaire "oligarchs". pWorks of art feared lost in blaze
BRITAIN: London police are investigating a warehouse fire thought to have destroyed a major swathe of British modern art history, a spokesman said yesterday. pIreland's taxes on alcohol are among Europe's highest
THE EU/IRELAND: The rates of taxation on beer, wines and spirits in Ireland rank among the highest in the whole of the European Union, according to a study published by the European Commission yesterday. pBelgian PM not to seek EU Commission job
BELGIUM/THE EU: Belgian Prime Minister Mr Guy Verhofstadt, tipped as a frontrunner to succeed EU Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, said yesterday he was happy with his job and wanted to keep doing it after June's European elections. pEU asked for payment to stop refugees
BELARUS: President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, perhaps the strangest and most oppressive new neighbour to be endured by the expanded European Union, demanded millions of euros from Brussels yesterday to stop refugees flooding into the bloc. pEU orders its staff to cut a long story short
The European Commission yesterday ordered its staff to produce shorter documents and fewer of them because it faces such a backlog in translating the wise words of Brussels into the nine new languages of the enlarged European Union. p
Amnesty wants inquiry into killing of Palestinian youths
THE MIDDLE EAST: Amnesty International wants an independent investigation into what it claims was the killing of two Palestinian children by Israeli troops during last week's military siege of the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza in which 53 Palestinians were killed. pTurkey may recall emissary to Israel 'for consultations'
TURKEY/ISRAEL: On the day that Amnesty International issued a withering report into what it called Israeli army war crimes in the Palestinian territories, one of Israel's most important regional allies, Turkey, said it might temporarily recall its ambassador from the Jewish state. pLula urges free and balanced trade to end poverty
CHINA: Hunger was the "worst of all weapons of mass destruction" and claimed millions of victims each year, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil said to loud applause at the Shanghai Conference on Poverty Reduction yesterday. pOver 600 dead in Caribbean floods
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/HAITI: Rescue workers dug through mud and debris yesterday for survivors and bodies as the death toll from devastating floods and landslides in the Dominican Republic and neighbouring Haiti climbed to more than 600. pDoubts raised about popular prostate test
THE US: A widely used test for prostate cancer may not be as safe as once thought, according to a study published yesterday that sparked debate on whether the screening process should be overhauled. p
