Iran Defies U.N. Deadline To Stop Uranium Enrichment

VIENNA, Austria — A defiant Iran kept on enriching uranium up to two days before the U.N. Security Council’s deadline today for Tehran to freeze such activity or face the threat of sanctions, U.N. and European officials said. President Ahmadinejad urged European members of the council against resorting to sanctions, saying punishment would not dissuade his country from pursuing its disputed nuclear program.

— Associated Press

Bomb in Baghdad Leaves 52 Dead

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad’s oldest and largest wholesale market district, killing at least 24 people and wounding 35, part of a surge in bloodshed yesterday that left 52 dead, authorities said. Earlier, an explosives-rigged bicycle blew up near an army recruiting center in a city south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people. Violence across Iraq has spiked in recent days, with more than 200 people killed since Sunday in clashes, bombings or shootings — despite American and Iraqi officials’ claims that a new security operation in the capital has lowered Sunni-Shiite killings there, which had risen in June and July.

— Associated Press

Two Alleged Spies for U.S. Beheaded in Pakistan

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan — Militants decapitated an Islamic cleric and an Afghan refugee accused of spying for American and Afghan authorities in northwestern Pakistan, an intelligence official said yesterday. Notes written in the local Pashtu language were left on the bodies accusing the men of being spies for America and Afghanistan, he said. The cleric was an Afghan identified as 45-year-old Noor Wali. His decapitated body and severed head were dumped next to each other on a roadside in Khati Khel, a village near Miran Shah, the official said. The body of the Afghan refugee, identified as Hak Nawaz, was found in Darpakhel village, on Miran Shah’s western outskirts.

— Associated Press

Israel Strikes Gaza Outskirts, Killing Five

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops launched airstrikes on the outskirts of Gaza City and exchanged gunfire with Palestinian Arab militants yesterday, killing five people, officials said. Israeli forces have been searching for smuggling tunnels and explosives in Gaza City’s Shijaiyeh neighborhood since the weekend and have killed a total of 15 Palestinian Arabs, doctors said. The Palestinian government is broke, mainly due to an international freeze on aid payments to the Palestinian Authority.

— Associated Press

17 Aid Workers Killed in Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI — Seventeen aid workers who were murdered in eastern Sri Lanka this month were killed by government security forces, international peace monitors said yesterday.The allegation, rejected as “baseless” by Colombo, will further strain already difficult relations between the Swedish-led cease-fire monitors and the island’s government. It comes as Sri Lanka continues down the path to renewed civil war. The 17, all but one of them ethnic Tamils, had been working on tsunami relief projects and were wearing T-shirts identifying them as humanitarian workers. They were made to kneel and then shot.

— The Daily Telegraph

Chavez Stands Firm With Syrian Leader

DAMASCUS, Syria — President Chavez of Venezuela said yesterday that he and President Assad of Syria shared a “decisive and firm” stance against American “imperialism” and “domination.” Mr. Chavez’s visit was the latest in a series of international stops where he has trumpeted his opposition to Washington’s global influence and advanced what he calls a “multipolar” vision of world affairs. Venezuela, America’s fifth-largest source of oil, has built close ties with Iran, Syria, and other Middle East countries while its relations have grown tense with America and Israel.

— Associated Press