Suicide bombs have killed at least 64 people in multiple blasts in north-eastern Nigeria, according to officials.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama warned that an obscure US Christian pastor’s plan to burn the Koran tomorrow to mark September 11 could provoke al-Qaida suicide bombings, as Asian countries urged Washington to prevent the act.

The militant Hamas group’s top leaders in Gaza and Syria warned the moderate Palestinian president not to “fall into the trap” of a forthcoming US-sponsored peace conference with Israel.

Israeli troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip today shot and killed seven Palestinians, including three brothers and their cousin, Palestinian hospital officials said.

PRESIDENT Saddam Hussein said yesterday he was ready to give UN weapons inspectors a chance to disprove American allegations that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.