Reuters - A year-old Palestinian girl and a senior
Hamas bombmaker were killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday as
Israel pressed home air strikes after a senior official warned
Gazans they risked a "shoah" if rocket fire did not stop.
AP - The Saddam Hussein henchman known as "Chemical Ali" for gassing thousands of Kurdish civilians is due to hang within the month, following the endorsement of his death sentence Friday by Iraq's presidential council. But even survivors were notably subdued about the news in a nation weary of violence and suffering.
Reuters - The top U.S. commander in Iraq will
likely take four to six weeks after a reduction in U.S. troop
levels ends in mid-July before deciding if more can go home, a
senior administration official said on Friday.
AP - The top U.S. commander in Iraq will ask President Bush to wait until as late as September to decide when to bring home more troops than already scheduled, a senior administration official said Friday.
AP - Jordan's King Abdullah II warned Friday that unless a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian agreement is reached during the Bush administration's final months, the chances for a lasting Middle East peace could be "set back, perhaps for decades."
AP - The U.S. plans to reduce the number of auditors and investigators at its development agency in Baghdad, The Associated Press has learned.
AP - The Justice Department appears to be gathering testimony from Iraqi witnesses for a possible trial of Blackwater Worldwide security guards over a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
AFP - The US administration Friday turned down a request from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to intervene to stop compensation payments in cases won by the families of American victims of Palestinian attacks, US officials said.
AP - Federal prosecutors played secretly taped phone conversations Friday to show jurors that a former Navy sailor charged with leaking ship movements to suspected terrorism supporters used coded speech to discuss intelligence about military bases.
AP - A Spanish court has decided to halt the prosecution of a key Argentine dirty war suspect charged with genocide and terrorism and instead extradite him to stand trial in his home country, officials said Friday.