In simultaneous blasts, insurgents detonated two car bombs Saturday at a police station near the fortified headquarters of the U.S. Embassy and interim Iraqi government, killing at least three policemen and wounding dozens in the latest assault against Iraq's fledgling security forces.

Pakistan has lent its full support to United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan and wishes to see him complete his remaining tenure in office.

The U.S. military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs that show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed prisoners and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Friday of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell called Kofi Annan a "good" UN secretary-general on Friday, after days in which Washington chose not to defend the diplomat against a US senator's demand he resign.

The US military kicked off a buildup of forces in Iraq by 12,000 troops on Friday as 82nd Airborne Division soldiers began leaving Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to boost security for Jan. 30 Iraqi elections.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas could soon suspend attacks against Israel, according to a senior member.

FBI agents conducted searches yesterday at the headquarters of a leading pro-Israel lobby and delivered grand-jury subpoenas in an investigation of alleged espionage for Israel, federal officials and the lobby group said. The search and the subpoenas for four top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) indicate that the politically charged investigation remains active. No criminal charges have been filed.

The Pentagon has confirmed it is boosting troop numbers in Iraq by about 12,000. The reinforcement, it says, is temporary, but is to provide additional security in the run-up to the Iraq election scheduled for the end of January.

Hamas militants vowed to boycott the Jan. 9 vote to choose Yasser Arafat's successor while Marwan Barghouti, the fiery Palestinian leader imprisoned in Israel, reversed his earlier decision and entered the race for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sacked his main coalition partner on Wednesday after a humiliating parliamentary defeat that left him scrambling to avoid early elections and save his Gaza withdrawal plan.

Sharon dismissed the Shinui party shortly after it defied him by voting against the 2005 state budget in a first reading in parliament, and aides said he would immediately approach the center-left Labour Party to prevent his government's collapse.

The U.S. military in Iraq suffered its deadliest month since last year's invasion with more military personnel killed in action in November than in any equivalent period, the Pentagon's figures show.

At least 135 combat deaths were reported in Iraq between 10 a.m. New York time on Oct. 29 and the same time on Nov. 30, according to the casualty toll posted on the Department of Defense Web site. That surpasses the toll from April this year, when 131 soldiers, Marines and other military personnel were killed between March 31 and April 30, the Web site showed.

More than 50 of November's deaths occurred during the U.S. and Iraqi offensive to recapture the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, from insurgents. That operation reduced parts of the mainly Sunni Muslim city to rubble and, according to the military, left more than 1,200 rebels dead.

Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a videotape broadcast on Monday al Qaeda would continue to attack the United States until Washington changed its policies toward the Muslim world.

"We are a nation of patience and we will continue fighting you (United States) until the last hour," Zawahri said in the excerpts of the tape which were aired by Arab satellite television Al Jazeera.

"Our final advice to America, although I know they will not heed it: You must choose between two methods in dealing with Muslims. Cooperate with them with respect and based on mutual interests or deal with them as free loot, robbed land and violated sanctity," he said.

Egyptian-born Zawahri is Osama bin Laden's right hand man and has been pictured traveling with the al Qaeda leader through Afghanistan. He is on the FBI's list of its 22 "most wanted terrorists."

The latest video, in which Zawahri was wearing a white turban and sitting with an automatic rifle next to him, appeared to have been taped before the U.S. presidential elections because he said it not matter to al Qaeda whether Americans chose President Bush or Democratic challenger John Kerry.