Moscow (Reuters): U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were to meet in Northern Ireland on Monday (early Tuesday Jakarta time) in an effort to bridge differences over postwar Iraq as their troops make further big gains on the ground.

Baghdad (Reuters): Iraqi snipers crouched behind bridges and artillery fire rang out from almost every direction on Monday as Iraqi forces defended Baghdad against U.S. troops who had thrust into the heart of the city.

Iraq (Reuters): Separatist Kurds want to use Turkey's rift with the United States over war in Iraq to win U.S. acceptance of their cause and add pressure for Kurdish cultural and political rights.

Basra, Iraq (Agencies): British paratroopers guarded by tanks and helicopter gunships walked unopposed into the center of Iraq's second city of Basra on Monday, meeting a warm...

Amman (Reuters): Ablack military beret on his head, his mouth fixed in a blithe smile, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf has become the face and voice of Iraqi defiance.

United Nations (Agence France-Presse): United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Monday that UN involvement was required to confer legitimacy on any postconflict administration in Iraq.

Baghdad (Reuters): U.S. troops stormed the heart of Baghdad on Monday, seizing two presidential palace compounds but losing at least four dead as Iraqi forces fought back.

Hong Kong (Agence France-Presse): The death toll from a respiratory virus causing a global health scare hit 100 on Monday as more deaths from the mystery disease were reported in China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Manila (Agence France-Presse): East Asian economies should set up their own fund mechanism to weather financial crises and rely less on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz said here on Monday.

Hong Kong (Agence France-Presse): Asia's travel and tourism industries are looking increasingly sick as a deadly pneumonia virus ravages the region.

London (Reuters): Stunned France joined champions Russia in the davis Cup doldrums on Sunday completing a disastrous weekend for the tournament's top two seeds.

Duluth, Georgia (Agence France-Presse): American Ben Crane staged a dramatic charge to capture his first career title.