Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

Reappeared before Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war, former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has rejected claims that he ignored advice that the UK did not have enough legal backing to invade Iraq in 2003.

Straw, the current Justice Secretary, was summoned to the inquiry on Monday after his senior legal adviser at the time of the Iraq war, Sir Michael Wood, told the inquiry Straw had ignored his warnings.

Britain's official inquiry into the Iraq war for the second time linked the conflict with Iran at a session on Monday dedicated to further investigate the invasion's legality.

The former foreign secretary and the incumbent justice secretary, Jack Straw, reappeared before the Downing Street-selected committee investigating the build up to the 2003 war and denied “ignoring” legal advice that war would be in breach of international law without a second UN Security Council resolution.

The Americans killed in last week's bomb attack in Pakistan were US agents that had been working closely with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an official says.

Dozens of teenage girls were caught up in the blast, outside their secondary school last week. The incident left eight people, including three American soldiers dead.

Palestinians say they would consider a US offer to hold indirect peace talks with Israel if the talks are focused on the issue of the borders.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said on Monday that the Palestinian Authority needed more information from Washington, along with support from Arab states, before making a commitment to the US offer on the peace talks, Reuters reported.

Iran on Monday informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in an official letter that from Tuesday, it will begin enriching higher-grade nuclear fuel.

"Today we handed over the letter," Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told Press TV.

NATO forces in Afghanistan have called on the Taliban to surrender ahead of what is expected to be the biggest anti-militant offensive since 2001.

A Spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General Eric Tremblay, called on the militants to lay down their arms and announced that the goal of the operation was to "separate the insurgents from the population".

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Monday that the Palestinians will provide the court with more legal arguments over Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Palestinian Authority officials "will be back in March with more legal arguments, so we are letting them come here before making any decision…It is a very complex decision," Reuters reported.

Reacting to the Republican criticism of the way US President Barack Obama addressed the Christmas Eve jet bomb threat, the White House terrorism czar accuses the the GOP of trying to gain political momentum from the incident.

Appearing on the NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, John Brennan accused the Republicans of using the incident as a "political football" for their own gains.