Washington - US President George W Bush designated three areas of the Pacific Ocean as national monuments on Tuesday, preserving vast areas of waters rich in sea life for scientific research.

The three new monuments in remote areas of the Pacific near the US territories of American Samoa and Wake Island consist of a combined 518,000 square kilometres - slightly larger than Spain.

Bush made the designations under the Antiquities Act of 1906 that allows presidents to set aside places of historic, cultural or scientific significance.

San Francisco - Apple on Tuesday announced the biggest changes in the history of its iTunes online media store, saying it would offer the vast majority of songs without copy restrictions and at three price levels rather than the current 99-cent flat rate.

Apple also announced that it would begin offering iPhone owners the ability to download songs directly over cellular 3G networks for the same price as downloading the songs via their computers.

New York  - Israeli attacks on three schools run by the United Nations in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, including one that killed more than 46 civilians on Tuesday, were "totally unacceptable and must not be repeated," UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon said.

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday called the Israeli Army "cowardly" for its offensive in the Gaza Strip, and said the people of Israel should protest the operation that has killed more than 580 people.

"How cowardly is the Israeli Army. They attack a people that is exhausted, asleep, innocent, and they boast that they are defending their people," Chavez told reporters. "I call upon the people of Israel to rise against that government."

Ankara  - Some 1,500 police were called to Ankara's Ataturk Arena late Tuesday after fans and demonstrators forced a European Cup basketball match between a local and an Israeli team to be called off.

An Israeli flag was burned outside the stadium, while inside supporters of the Turk Telekom team chanted anti-Israeli slogans and shook their fists at opponents from the Israeli Bnei Hasharon club.

Washington  - US President George W Bush will host former presidents and his successor, Barack Obama, at the White House for a private meeting during lunch on Wednesday, the White House said.

The meeting will mark the first gathering of all former presidents at the White House since 1981, spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Bush and Obama will hold a private one-on-one meeting before the expanded presidential gathering, she said.