US and Iraqi troops raided a prominent Baghdad Sunni mosque complex and detained 18 suspects on Saturday, while a bomb aboard a minibus in the capital killed five people.

New Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections could be organised in less than 90 days but may not be possible any time soon without Hamas’ consent, officials involved in election planning said Saturday.

King Abdullah will meet US President George W. Bush at White House on Tuesday for talks on a new US push to revive the Middle East peace process.

According to sources from Ingushetia, in previous evening in the capital of Magas, a motorcade with President Zyazikov came under fire. The convoy was attacked from machine-guns and grenade launchers.

The administration of the President of CRI has distributed the decree of the head of Chechen state, Dokka Umarov on appointing of the Military Amir of CRI Armed Forces and also three of his deputies.

THE senior British official was unequivocal. The murder of the former KGB man Alexander Litvinenko was “undeniably state-sponsored terrorism on Moscow’s part. That is the view at the highest levels of the British government”.

Egyptian police opened fire on a group of African migrants trying to sneak across the border into Israel on Sunday, killing one woman and wounding four including a child, security sources said.

Egyptian police have detained 22 university students loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, security officials said on Sunday.

Two families in the Upper Egyptian Qena province decided to settle a feud with blades, but no lives were lost in the cutting that followed.

The ranking of the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy relative to other countries has declined from 52nd in 2005 to 63rd in 2006, says “The Egyptian National Competitiveness Report,” released this month.