<B> ROSTOCK -Bush blames Syria and Iran.</B> President Bush blamed Syria and Iran for new Middle East violence , faced further defiance from Iran and North Korea and got an acerbic retort from Russian President Vladimir Putin to US criticism.

<B>SAMAWAH - Iraqis take over security in Muthana.</B> British and Australian forces handed over security for the relatively peaceful southern province of Muthanna to Iraqi forces yesterday in the first such transfer of an entire province

<B>GUATEMALA CITY - Dictatator says arrest not justified .</B> A former Guatemalan dictator said a Spanish judge’s order for his arrest was unfounded and insisted that as president he was not aware of any atrocities committed by military officials during the country’s civil war.

<B>KHARTOUM -Tribal tensions increase in Darfur.</B> Rape, killing and looting are increasing as tribal tensions escalate in Sudan’s troubled Darfur province, the United Nations’ top envoy to the country said on Wednesday, despite a peace deal he had helped broker.

<B>GHANA-US will provide massive financial aid. </B>The US government announced a five-year, 547-million-dollar aid package to Ghana to help the African nation develop agriculture and alleviate it’s burden.

<B>AUSTRALIA- John Howard will go for elections.</B> Australian Prime Minister John Howard signaled yesterday he may seek a fifth term and lead his conservative government to the next election due in 2007, despite pressure from his ambitious treasurer to step down.

<B> LONDON- Blair’s ally to be questioned by police. </B> A close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair has returned to a London police station for further grilling as part of an inquiry into claims of shady financial dealings by the governing Labour Party.

<B>MEXICO - Obrador suppporters seek recount.</B>Tens of thousands of supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City , leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount.

<B>VENEZUELA - Militarization concerns bishops. </B> Roman Catholic leaders criticized what they called the militarization of Venezuelan society and the persecution of government opponents.

<B>MANILA - Filipino woman says rape by Marine ruined her life. </B>A Filipino woman, resuming her testimony against four US Marines accused of raping her last year, said on ThThe Marines, being held by the US embassy in Manila, deny the charges filed in December, claiming they were being framed after one of them had consensual sex with the woman in a van.Yesterday she has had sleeping and eating problems and wished she was dead since the attack.