BAGHDAD -- Four Egyptian engineers working for the Egyptian telecom company Orascom were kidnapped in Baghdad on Sunday, witnesses said.
"A group of gunmen kidnapped four Egyptian engineers working with Orascom company as they were leaving their house Sunday morning," witnesses in Adel district, west of Baghdad, said. (Iraq-Egypt-Kidnapping)
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GAZA -- Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that both Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed to meet later inthe day to resume discussions on outstanding issues, mainly prisoners' release.
Speaking to reporters, Erekat said aides of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Saturday night but failed to achieve tangible results. (Palestinians-Meeting)
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TEHRAN -- Iran on Sunday reiterated that the European Union (EU)should be more serious in the ongoing nuclear talks, slamming the EU for being influenced by the United States.
"We call on the Europeans to be more serious in the negotiationswith us, and they must observe Iran's rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. (Iran-EU-Nuclear Talks)
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JERUSALEM -- Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday asked Israel to make "hard decisions" in order to achieve peace in the Middle East.
"We will ask of our partners and our friends in Israel that Israel continues to make the hard decisions that must be taken in order to promote peace and ... the emergence of a democratic Palestinian state," Rice said before meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. (Israel-Rice-Visit) Enditem
'''February 7, 2005'''

Iraq
Iraq – With a strong lead in a pre-weekend partial report, Shi'a leaders have begun making known their interests in a Shiite Prime Minister. Others have spoken of the negotiations for the constitution. Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Ishaq al-Fayad is quoted saying the separation of religion and state must be "completely rejected."

"All of the Ulema (clergy) and Marja, and the majority of the Iraqi people, want the National Assembly to make Islam the source of legislation in the permanent constitution and to reject any law that is contrary to Islam," he said in his statement.

Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld spent the weekend on television shows and interviews assuring the U.S. public the Iraqi elections would not result in a theocracy for the country.

"We have a great deal of confidence in where they're headed," Mr. Cheney said on ''Fox News Sunday''. "I don't think, at this stage, that there's anything like justification for hand-wringing or concern on the part of Americans that somehow they're going to produce a result we won't like."

The violence of the insurgency, however, has returned after a brief lull following the elections whose final returns are expected in the coming week.

* 14 insurgents, 22 Iraqi police officers and soldiers were killed in an attack on a police station south of Baghdad.
* Four Egyptian telecom engineers were abducted.
* One U.S. soldier was killed and two injured by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.
* One U.S. marine was killed south of Baghdad on Saturday.
* In a rocket attack, 2 missiles exploded near the Baghdad Airport, while a third struck an Iraqi National Guard building; no casualties were reported.
* On Friday, an Italian jounalist was abducted near Baghdad University.