Bush vows to ‘complete Iraq job’ US President George W Bush has pledged to keep American troops in Iraq until “the job is complete”.

Lebanon opposition plans protest Hezbollah-led opposition groups have called for mass protests to begin on Friday in central Beirut with the aim of bringing down the current government.

Rice has peace talks in West Bank US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to build on recent Middle East peace overtures by holding talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Ethiopia authorises military action Ethiopia’s parliament has authorized military action in the event of an attack on the country by Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts.

Source: Iraq panel to advise gradual U.S. pullback Following an intense assessment of U.S. policies in the war in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group will recommend that a “gradual but meaningful” reduction of U.S. troops begin “relatively early in the New Year.”

Abbas: Talks on unity gov’t at dead end Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the efforts to establish a unity government in the Palestinian Authority have reached a deadlock.

Pope: ‘Scandal’ of Christian rifts Pope Benedict XVI called divisions among Christians a “scandal to the world” and recalled the faith’s deep roots in Europe in a joint ceremony Thursday.

Dozens of children in mass graves, Saddam trial told Iraqi troops shot kneeling mothers and young children in the head and dumped them into mass graves by the score, a forensic expert told ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial Thursday.

Spy death: Radiation at 12 sites; jets probed Traces of radiation have been found at a dozen sites in Britain and five jets were being investigated for possible contamination as authorities widened their investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian spy.

‘Hundreds killed’ in Sudan battle At least 300 people were killed in clashes between Sudan’s army and former rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say.