World

Iraq's interim president accepted the credentials of the ambassadors from the US, Australia, and Denmark, the first nations to restore diplomatic ties with a Baghdad government. All are members of the coalition that overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime or is providing security in the postwar period. The US broke relations with Iraq in 1990, when it invaded neighboring Kuwait. Meanwhile, legal custody of Hussein and 11 others who held senior posts in his regime is due to be transferred to the interim government Wednesday, although they'll remain in a US detention facility and their trials are still months away.

For the first time in a quarter-century, Canadians are preparing for a minority government after the ruling Liberal Party won only 135 of the 308 seats in Parliament in Monday's election, a loss of 33 from its current ranks. The outcome means that Prime Minister Paul Martin must enlist the support of the leftist New Democrats, who won 19 seats - a scenario that political analysts said could hasten another election. All-but-final returns indicated a disappointment for the Conservative Party, which polls had suggested would win about 115 seats but which finished instead with 99.

At least four people were hurt when a protest in Manila against Wednesday's inauguration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo turned violent. Police also displayed four Muslim terrorist suspects arrested for an alleged plot to bomb the swearing-in and Arroyo's acceptance speech, which are scheduled to be attended by dozens of foreign dignitaries. Arroyo called for national unity, but supporters of film actor Fernando Poe Jr., whom she defeated in the May 10 election, announced formation of a coalition to hound her six-year term with protests.

An acrimonious search for a new president to head the European Union's executive commission ended with the prime minister of Portugal accepting the post. If confirmed by the European Parliament, Jose Durao Barroso will succeed Romano Prodi of Italy, who steps down at the end of October. Almost a dozen other candidates were rejected. Durao Barroso has been a supporter of US counterterrorism efforts and the war in Iraq, an issue over which the EU remains deeply divided.