Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has handed his powers over to his vice president but refused to step down outright or leave the country.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki warned today that carving up his country into self-ruled regions could lead to more strife and the country’s break-up.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through the centre of Karbala in Iraq early today after clashes between rival Shiite militias claimed up to 51 lives.

US troops arrested the son of Iraq’s top Shiite politician today as he returned to the country from Iran, it was reported today.

FURIOUS Egypt says a contest to name the new seven wonders of the world in which the ancient Pyramids of Giza must now compete with sites like Stonehenge, is a “disgrace”.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing a total of 27 people and wounding 63, police said.

Sunni-led insurgents firing mortars and guns attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in northern Iraq today, killing six policemen and wounding 10, an official said.

A SUNNI Arab coalition yesterday submitted its list of candidates for the December elections, signalling the intention of many Sunnis to join the political process despite their failure to block ratification of the new constitution.

THREE shootings killed four people across Iraq yesterday, including one attack in the capital that left a young girl wounded and her parents dead.

A man claiming to be a senior al Qaida figure that the US believes is operating in Iraq has released a tape calling for the country’s Sunni Muslims to fight Shiites and claiming responsibility for high-profile attacks there.

IRAQI leaders said yesterday they want to start planning elections immediately, after the United Nations estimated it would take eight months to organise a nationwide ballot.

Three Iraqis were killed when a truck bomb exploded soon after a US patrol passed by as two UN security experts arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to study the possible return of international staff.

A roadside bomb exploded near a military petrol tanker outside Baghdad today, wounding two US soldiers and, according to a witness, killing two Iraqi civilians.

An explosion just before dawn at an office belonging to Iraq’s major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others in Baghdad today.

The Iraqi Governing Council member today targeted in an assassination attempt has been moved to a secret location after surgery.

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity and Friday prayers were under way at Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrine when a car bomb exploded.

A council of up to nine Iraqis will probably lead the country’s still unformed interim government through the coming months, the American civil administrator said today.

ALLIED forces were yesterday holding a commander of the Baghdad Ba’ath Party after he was handed over by Iraqi Kurds.

US president George Bush, armed with congressional authority to oust Saddam Hussein, is reviewing post-war plans for Iraq that could include deploying American troops to stabilise the nation until a new government is formed.

Iraqi officials say reports of the demise of Saddam Hussein are silly.