IRAQ: 'New gov't within a week'
BAGHDAD (Reuters): PRIME MINISTER-desig-nate Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday he hoped to form a government within a week after meeting Washington's top defence and foreign affairs officials and two of Iraq's most powerful clerics.

NEPAL: Rebels pledge truce
KATHMANDU (Reuters): NEPAL'S MAOIST rebels declared a three-month ceasefire from yesterday and political parties forming a new government promised to work with them, raising hopes of an end to the decade-old conflict.

UNITED STATES - Panel recommends abolishing FEMA
WASHINGTON (AP): HURRICANE KATRINA turned the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency (FEMA) into a "symbol of a bumbling bureaucracy" so far beyond repair that it should be scrapped, senators said yesterday.