OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to meet today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a key regional mediator, as part of efforts to restart Mideast peace talks and free a captured Israeli soldier, but Israeli officials said they did not expect a breakthrough on the …

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq will execute two former aides of Saddam Hussein on Thursday, five days after the former leader was himself hanged in Baghdad, an official in prime minister’s office said Wednesday. Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, arrested a guard present during Saddam’s execution as part of an inquiry into how …

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush, just days from unveiling his new plan for Iraq, urged opposition Democrats who will control the US Congress until he leaves office in 2009 to back his spending priorities. “Congress has changed. Our obligations to the country haven’t,” he said, acknowledging the …