Middle Orient

TOKYO (AP) — The departure of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cheered critics around the world who saw him as a symbol of a failed war in Iraq, while supporters of the military mission pledged to work closely with his successor.

CAIRO (Reuters) — The Sudanese government is willing to start unconditional talks with the National Redemption Front rebel group to stop the violence in Darfur but sees no need for a new peace deal, a senior presidential adviser said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — An expected phased reduction in US troops in Iraq after the resignation of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left Iraqis split on Thursday whether a withdrawal would be in their best interest.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned against carrying out the death sentence on Saddam Hussein, saying that hanging the former leader would lead to more sectarian strife in Iraq.

BAGHDAD — US soldiers strolled through neighbourhoods in troubled north Baghdad on Thursday, poking their heads into storefronts and delivering the same message all day: Donald Rumsfeld’s departure does not mean American forces will abandon efforts to stabilise the capital.

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Rival Lebanese leaders made some progress in talks on Thursday on a Hizbollah demand for more say in the Western-backed Cabinet that would give the pro-Syrian party effective veto power over the government.

A far-right faction opposed to relinquishing occupied land joined Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s governing coalition on Monday, a partnership likely to complicate any peace efforts with the Palestinians.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The killings of two Americans took the monthly US death toll in Iraq on Monday to over 100 for the first time in nearly two years, just a week before elections that could cost President George W. Bush’s Republicans control of Congress.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani helicopter gunships destroyed a religious school allegedly fronting as an Al Qaeda training camp on Monday, killing up to 80 people in the country’s deadliest-ever military operation targeting suspected “terrorists”.

KUWAIT (AFP) — The emir of Kuwait Monday urged MPs and the government to cooperate in fighting corruption as he opened the new term of parliament where the opposition has gained control following June elections.