Monarch condoles Mubarak, writer’s family CAIRO — Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, died Wednesday at the age of 94, bringing tributes from literary figures and world leaders for an author who became a symbol of liberalism in the face of extremism.

VIENNA (AP) — A defiant Iran continued to enrich uranium up to two days before the UN Security Council’s deadline Thursday for Tehran to freeze such activity or face the threat of sanctions, UN and European officials said Wednesday.

SRIFA — Every window in Srifa’s main school has been blown out by Israeli bombs.

UNITED NATIONS — Britain on Tuesday circulated a revised draft resolution in the Security Council urging the deployment of UN troops in Sudan’s Darfur region with Khartoum’s consent, hoping to put it to a vote by Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed that the current tight arms race in the world has caused such vast and deteriorating global insecurity that no country feels safe anymore.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Larijani said that the US predictions about Iran’s nuclear move may not come true as its forecasts about Hezbollah’s conditions were not materialized.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran Tuesday extended an invitation to western companies to participate in its nuclear projects, a sign that it will not budge from its decision to continue nuclear activities for peaceful purposes.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Commander of Iran’s Law Enforcement Police said that insecurities and bandit operations in eastern Iran, which have inflicted great losses on the country, have foreign roots. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of a police hospital in

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi stated Tehran’s profound concern about increased insecurities and clashes in Iraq. A statement released by the Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Bureau

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday said he hoped to soon double to 5,000 the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon and urged Israel and Hizbollah to swiftly end rows blocking a permanent ceasefire.