- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a surprise visit to Iraq, defends Britain’s involvement in the occupation, echoing the Bush administration, he calls the invasion a warning to other repressive regimes
- Afghanistan’s Loya Jurga agrees on a new constitution today, clearing the way for the country’s first elections in nearly 3 decades. the constitution gives women extra parliamentary seats
- 5 Israeli conscientious objectors who refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza are sentenced to a year in jail, the first such sentences since the second Palestinian uprising began 3 years go
- As Israel dismantles 2 West Bank settlement outposts, settlers at a third – followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane – say they’ll fight to stay