World Highlights
¤ Suicide bombers struck outside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing 16 people, close to where parliament met in heated session to hear at least one lawmaker warn that civil war was close at hand. Since parliament met last week, dozens have been...
¤ Suicide bombers struck outside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing 16 people, close to where parliament met in heated session to hear at least one lawmaker warn that civil war was close at hand. Since parliament met last week, dozens have been killed in the capital in bombings and some of the worst attacks yet seen by sectarian gunmen; militants in a Sunni area ambushed a bus full of Shi'ite mourners, killing 10 of them yesterday.
¤ US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan remained a key battleground in efforts to stifle a resurgence of Taliban fighting.
"There is no question but that there is some cross-border activity - Taliban and Al Qaeda," Mr Rumsfeld told reporters yesterday during a visit to Afghanistan.
¤ The United States and Russia are close to signing a deal on the eve of the Group of Eight summit that would remove the last big obstacle to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), officials said.
Negotiators in Moscow and Washington said agreements had not yet been reached on key trade issues. But the White House played up hopes a deal could be signed when Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet on Friday in St Petersburg.
¤ North Korea, vilified in the West for its missile tests, said it was willing to return to six-party talks on its nuclear programme if the United States dropped financial sanctions.
The comment from Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hyong Jun came as China condemned a Japan-sponsored UN resolution to slap sanctions on North Korea, calling it an over-reaction that would split the Security Council.