Jerusalem - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Iran Monday that his government was ready to take the lead in pressing for firmer sanctions to prevent it from realizing its nuclear programme.

In an historic address to Israel's parliament, he also strongly criticized Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his comments on Israel.

"We stand ready to lead in taking firmer sanctions and ask the whole international community to join us," Brown said at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

"Iran has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear weapons programme and accept our offer of negotiations, or face growing isolation and the collective response, not just of one nation, but of all nations round the world."

Baghdad - Armed men blew up the house of Iraqi lawmaker Mithal al-Alusy in west Baghdad Monday, nearly four years after one of several assassination attempts on his life resulted in the death of his two sons.

There were no fatalities in the explosion, since the house was empty at the time, but it was extensively damaged, security sources said.

The Sunni Muslim lawmaker is a secular politician who leads the Iraqi Nation Party.

He courted controversy when he visited Israel in 2004 while a member of the then interim Governing Council.

Baghdad - US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama arrived Monday in Baghdad on the second leg of a foreign tour. 

Baghdad  - Iraq's main Sunni political bloc returned on Saturday to the Shiite

Wellingt

Nicosia, July 18: Saikh Khalifa bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, has recently announced that the UAE has cancelled the entire debt owned to it by Iraq, amounting to