AP - Iran has test launched a rocket it plans to use to carry a research satellite into orbit, state television reported Sunday.

AFP - Bank Bradford & Bingley said Monday that its shareholders had agreed to buy just under 28 percent of a rights issue aimed at raising 400 million pounds.

AP - Mourners fired guns in the air to show their grief Monday at the funeral of a U.S.-allied Sunni leader killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad.

AP - • The top U.S. general in Afghanistan issued a rare public warning that militants are planning attacks during the country's Independence Day on Monday. Just hours before the alert went out, a suicide bomber killed nine Afghans near a U.S. base.

AP - Russia's president promised to start withdrawing forces from positions in Georgia on Monday, but suggested they could stay in the breakaway region at the heart of the fighting that has reignited Cold War tensions.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay pounded Cuba with torrential rain and wind Monday, prompting authorities to evacuate dozens of low-lying communities, cancel carnival celebrations in a central of province and warn of flooding.

AP - President Pervez Musharraf announced Monday he was resigning to avoid an impeachment battle with Pakistan's ruling coalition that would harm the nation.

AFP - Michael Phelps cemented his place in Olympics history Sunday, capping a sensational week by becoming the first athlete ever to win eight gold medals in one Games.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's ruling party and the main opposition have not yet reached a power-sharing agreement, an opposition spokesman said on Sunday.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay lashed southeastern Cuba with downpours and heavy winds Sunday and was expected to churn its way over the center of the island before heading toward Florida.

AFP - Germany's Deutsche Telekom, the biggest telecoms group in Europe, intends to shut nearly half its call centres in Germany, according to a report due out Monday in the Focus newsweekly.

AP - A series of bombings in this small but strategic northwestern Iraqi city is stoking fears of a return to sectarian conflict here and raising questions about a strategy of handing urban security to Iraqi police.