* Russian threats loom over historic EU summit EU leaders are holding an emergency summit on EU-Russia relations on Monday (1 September) – the first such meeting since the 9/11 attacks in the US.

* US hands over key Iraq province The US military has handed Anbar province, once the centre of Iraq’s Sunni insurgency, to Iraqi control at a ceremony in the provincial capital.

* ME Arabs ‘reject’ idea of Iran strike By and large, Arabs in the Middle East “absolutely reject” an Israeli or American strike on Iran or its nuclear facilities and believe the Islamic Republic is being “targeted” for reasons other than its nuclear program, an Egyptian expert on Iran has told The Jerusalem Post.

* Kremlin announces that South Ossetia will join ‘one united Russian state’ The Kremlin moved swiftly to tighten its grip on Georgia’s breakaway regions yesterday as South Ossetia announced that it would soon become part of Russia, which will open military bases in the province under an agreement to be signed on Tuesday.

* Gaza kids ‘training to kill Jews’ Salah al-Din Brigades training dozens of Palestinian children to ‘fight the Jews and kill Jewish children’.

* ‘US to strike Iran in coming weeks’ The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran’s weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country’s De Telegraaf newspaper on Friday.Strategiewreat.

* ‘Hizbullah has a right to rearm itself’ Lebanese parliament speaker Nabi Berri expressed his support for the continued armament of Hizbullah, the London-based Arab daily A-Sharq Alawsat newspaper reported Monday.

* ‘J’lem worried over Biden’s Iran stance’ Security officials expressed concern Monday over statements reportedly made by US Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

* China’s CNPC seals $3bn Iraq deal China’s state-owned oil firm CNPC has agreed a $3bn (£1.63bn) oil services contract with the government of Iraq.

* Saudi Arabians Back Obama Saudi Arabians, including expatriates, are backing Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama.