<B> JERUSALEM. Olmert plans to meet Abbas. </B>Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the end of this month, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

<B>WASHINGTON. US military inquiry over the killings of Iraqis. </B>A US military inquiry into whether Marines tried to cover up the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha will conclude that some officers gave false reports to their superiors, who then failed to scrutinize the information, according to a newspaper report. The Washington Post, citing an unidentified Army official, said the three-month investigation was also expected to call for changes in how US troops are trained for duty in Iraq.

<B>BASRA.Maliki tested.</B> Police and soldiers set up checkpoints and searched cars in Iraq’s second city in a first test of new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s ability to restore stability with an “iron fist” security crackdown.

<B>SEOUL.US envoy invited to discuss nuclear matters.</B> North Korea invited the chief US envoy to stalled nuclear talks to Pyongyang, if Washington proves it is committed to an agreement that offers the North concessions for abandoning its nuclear programme.

<B>DILI. Plea to restore national unity.</B> East Timor’s President Xanana Gusmao took to Dili’s troubled streets, pleading with the country’s feuding security forces to show national unity as foreign peacekeepers appeared to take control.

<B>KHARTOUM.Refusal to sign peace deal.</B> Two Darfur rebel groups refused to sign a peace deal ahead of a deadline set by the African Union to end the three-year-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands in Sudan’s remote west.

<B>BERLIN. German parliment approves troop deployment in Congo. </B>The German parliament yesterday overwhelmingly approved the government’s plan to deploy German troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo during its July election, despite public scepticism about the mission. Members of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, approved the mission with 440 votes in favour, 135 against and six abstentions. Germany, which is supplying some 780 troops for the mission to maintain order during Congo’s July 30 election, will lead the European Union force from headquarters in Potsdam, Germany. France will command the troops on the ground.

<B>PHNOM PENH. Cambodian girls change tale in Australian sex case.</B>Six Cambodian girls whose testimony put an Australian in jail for 20 years on rape and sexual abuse charges changed their story yesterday and asked an appeal court to free him. They accused the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre, which denied the charge, of persuading them to testify that Bart Lauwaert, 39, hired them as maids – then raped and abused them sexually – in expectation of getting money out of him.

<B>JOHANNESBURG. South Africa May confidence flat, rate hike looms.</B> South Africa’s economic confidence was flat in May amid concerns that interest rates could rise by the fourth quarter to counter potential inflationary pressures from the rand’s recent fall. These were the findings of the Reuters Econometer published yesterday. The survey of 16 economists showed the index, a confidence measure of 6 weighted indicators, little changed at 272.16 from 272.82 in April. The poll was carried out in the period May 22-31. Economists reckon the rand’s sharp fall against the dollar, coupled with a deteriorating current account deficit and strong domestic spending, has raised the risk of tighter monetary policy by year-end.

NAIROBI. Kenya passes laws to fight “epidemic of rape”. </B> Kenya has passed new laws intended to stem the country’s “epidemic of rape” and other sexual offences but women’s rights groups expressed outrage yesterday saying protections for married women were dropped. One woman is raped every 30 seconds in Kenya, according to the government, and the local media regularly run stories of fathers violating small daughters, sometimes leaving them dead.