May, 2006

• 29 May

  Sudan ex-rebels begin landmark talks

  KHARTOUM (AFP) — Former southern Sudanese rebels met leaders of the ruling party in Khartoum on Saturday for the first time since a peace deal was signed last year to end Africa’s longest running war.

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• 29 May

  Copter down in Iraq; politicians bicker over security posts

  BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said Saturday, one of a series of recent attacks attributed to Islamic fundamentalists.

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• 29 May

  Hamas rejects deadline on Israel recognition plan

  GAZA (Reuters) — Hamas on Saturday rejected a deadline set by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept a plan that indirectly calls for recognition of Israel, which he has threatened to put to a referendum. Abbas had stunned the Islamist group by giving it 10 days to accept the plan, …

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• 29 May

  3,505 die in quake

  King, in US, sends condolences letter to Yudhoyono  YOGYAKARTA (AP) — A powerful earthquake flattened homes and buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday as people slept, killing more than 3,505 and injuring thousands more in the nation’s worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

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• 27 May

  Egypt reckons US too needy to add bite to bark

  CAIRO — Egypt’s rulers are ignoring US criticism of their crackdown on political opposition because they calculate that the Bush administration desperately needs friends in the Middle East, critics and observers say. The US State Department has publicly criticised Egypt three times this month over its human rights record, its …

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• 27 May

  Mogadishu fighting kills 39

  MOGADISHU (AP) — At least 39 people were killed Thursday in renewed fighting in the Somali capital that sent thousands of frightened civilians running from their homes, medical officials and a militia commander said. According to reports collected from the Somali capital’s main hospitals, at least 30 people were killed …

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• 27 May

  Abbas proposes Palestinian referendum over terms of state

  RAMALLAH (Agencies) — In a bold ultimatum, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday gave Hamas 10 days to accept the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and said he’ll submit the plan to a referendum by mid-July if Hamas refuses.

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• 27 May

  Deep split over Hizbollah weapons

  BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon marked the sixth anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon on Thursday, amid deep divisions among its rival leaders over the fate of Hizbollah’s weapons.

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• 24 May

  Insurgents fight US, Iraqi forces to stalemate

  RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Whole neighborhoods are lawless, too dangerous for police. Some roads are so bomb-laden that US troops won’t use them. Guerrillas attack US troops nearly every time they venture out — and hit their bases with gunfire, rockets or mortars when they don’t.

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• 24 May

  UN seeks to persuade Sudan to accept peacekeepers

  KHARTOUM (Reuters) — Senior diplomats will seek to persuade Khartoum on Tuesday to accept UN peacekeepers in the violent Darfur region after UN chief Kofi Annan accused Sudan of violating international law.

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