World Highlights

¤ An Iraqi woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside a US military office in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, killing herself and at least five others and wounding 53, police said. The US military said in a statement the bomb targeted Iraqi citizens filing for compensation at a Civil Military Operations Centre. Iraqis visit such centres to claim compensation if they lose relatives, or suffer damage to property, because of US military action.

¤ A bomb exploded outside the house of a bodyguard of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, killing at least six people, an aide to Sadr said. Sahib al-Amiree said the blast also wounded eight people. The holy Shi'ite city of Najaf has been relatively calm compared to central Iraq, where a Sunni Arab insurgency is raging.

¤ Israel fired more missiles into Gaza and knocked out power to thousands of Palestinians in an offensive against cross-border rocket volleys by militants two weeks after its withdrawal from the territory. No rocket launchings were reported during the day after a pledge by militant groups to halt attacks condemned by the Palestinian Authority (PA) as harming the national interest.

¤ Turkish women challenged US envoy Karen Hughes over the Iraq war, giving Washington's new image shaper her second critical reception on her Middle East tour after a similar encounter in Saudi Arabia. The guests invited to an Ankara museum by the US embassy politely but firmly refused to be swayed by the encouraging message Ms Hughes is trying to spread among Muslims in her job as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.

¤ The New Orleans mayor planned to give anxious residents a new timetable for returning to the city, while the Louisiana governor began lobbying Washington for support to rebuild the storm-battered state. Governor Kathleen Blanco declined a chance to respond in Congress to comments by the former head of the federal disaster agency blaming her for problems in the response to the storms, and said she would rather focus on her economic case.

¤ German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Conservative leader Angela Merkel voiced optimism after talks to forge a power-sharing coalition despite disagreeing on who should lead the country.