BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 16 people were killed, including nine members of Iraq's security forces, and 14 wounded in a string of attacks in Al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

CAIRO (AFP) - Arab officials agreed on Thursday to the holding of direct Middle East peace negotiations and left it up to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to decide when to start talks with Israel, the Qatari foreign minister said.

LONDON (AFP) - The euro hit 1.31 dollars for the first time since May 10 on Thursday as the European single currency rose on the back of US economic concerns, traders said.

KINSHASA (AFP) - At least 140 people drowned when a boat carrying passengers and merchandise capsized on a lake in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the provincial governor's office said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - China allowed an annual IMF staff report that is critical of its currency policy to be released Thursday for the first time in four years, a fund official said.