06 October 2004 Wednesday 19 Shaban 1425 Straw meets Allawi in surprise visit BAGHDAD, Oct 5: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Tuesday after talks with Kurdish leaders during an unannounced trip to the country. ... Date for Iraq pullout soon: Polish minister WARSAW, Oct 5: Poland, one of the main pillars of the US-led occupation in Iraq, will soon fix a date for the withdrawal of its 2,500 troops, its defence minister said on Tuesday ... Kerry pounces on Bremer's remarks on Iraq invasion TIPTON, Oct 5: Democratic White House challenger John Kerry accused President George W. Bush of mismanaging the war in Iraq after a former top aide said the U.S. paid the price for not deploying enough troops after last year's invasion. ... US was not ready for insurgency: Bremer - Post-war situation in Iraq WASHINGTON, Oct 5: Iraq's former American administrator Paul Bremer has said that the Bush administration made two major mistakes in Iraq: not deploying enough troops and not containing the violence and looting immediately after the fall of Baghdad. ... Blind in Iraq, eyeless in Gaza At first glance the violence in Jabaliya in Palestine and in the Iraqi town of Samarra appear to be unconnected. The Israeli army's incursion into northern Gaza looks like just another deadeningly familiar episode ... Heading the Afghans: a dangerous mission KABUL: Whoever wins Afghanistan's election should beware. Assassinations and coups go with the territory - almost every amir, king and president of the country has met an unfortunate end. ... Israel backing away from claim against UN agency TEL AVIV, Oct 5: The Israeli army on Tuesday backed away from an accusation that Palestinian militants used a UN ambulance to transport a rocket to be fired at Israel, a charge that raised a stir within the world body. ... UN Council debates Palestinian resolution UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5: "The Palestinian people are exposed to a virtual war of extermination," said Algeria's UN Ambassador Abdalla Baali, Monday as he asked the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution ... US threatens veto WASHINGTON, Oct 5: The United States will seek to prevent a vote on a proposed UN Security Council resolution that calls on Israel to halt its ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip ... Secret talks to end Gaza raid being held TEL AVIV, Oct 5: Israeli and Palestinian officials have been holding secret talks over bringing to an end the vast Israeli operation launched in the northern Gaza Strip last week, an Israeli government source said on Tuesday. ... Russia FM phones Arafat, Shalom MOSCOW, Oct 5: Russia engaged in Middle Eastern telephone diplomacy on Tuesday as it tried to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table as violence raged on in the troubled region. ... EU urged to raise issue with Moscow: Russia backsliding on democracy: official BRUSSELS, Oct 5: Russia is backsliding on democracy and the EU must take Moscow to task while bringing other former Soviet republics closer to the West, the bloc's incoming External Relations Commissioner said on Tuesday. ... End to Chechnya crisis sought MOSCOW, Oct 5: Russian intellectuals on Tuesday urged the nation's political classes to come forward with their own suggestions to solve the Chechen crisis, saying last month's school hostage tragedy showed the government had no answers. ... Italy halts controversial immigrant expulsions LAMPEDUSA, Oct 5: Italy halted its controversial mass expulsions of immigrants to Libya on Tuesday, an official here said, after a welter of criticism from opposition parties and human rights organisations. ... Bulgaria finds Thracian mausoleum SOFIA, Oct 5: A team of Bulgarian archaeologists announced on Tuesday that they had unearthed a large, intact Thracian mausoleum dating back from the fifth century B.C. near the central Bulgarian town of Chipka. ... Quark paradox studies win physics Nobel PARIS, Oct 5: What are the smallest building blocks of matter? How do they function? And what forces hold them together? For the past century, physicists striving to build a conceptual architecture ... Foreign-born citizens may seek US presidency WASHINGTON, Oct 5: Aspirants to the Oval Office would no longer have to be native-born Americans, if a bill discussed on Tuesday in Congress becomes law. ... Norway urges Tamil Tigers to stop killing COLOMBO, Oct 5: Norwegian peace facilitators in Sri Lanka has urged the Tamil Tigers to stop killings of political opponents, Norwegian embassy said here on Tuesday. ... America is at war with itself LONDON: If you are interested in who's going to be the next US president then forget the precedents. If history is anything to go by, both John Kerry and George Bush will win. ... Spirit of reforms in Egypt CAIRO: Reform is the name of the game in today's Egypt. Over the past year, the country has witnessed the sprouting of new groups all calling for democratic reforms. ...

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