World

More mortar shells and rockets were launched at Jewish targets in the Gaza Strip despite the pledge of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to do "all we can" to stop them "regardless of the price." Meanwhile, although Israeli forces were massed for a possible invasion of Gaza, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said it wouldn't be ordered if Abbas was successful. In fact, Israeli troops and police were deployed Monday to block a protest march on Gaza by opponents of next month's scheduled pullout.

The trial of Saddam Hussein will be scheduled within days, Iraq's chief investigating judge said after the first criminal charge against him - ordering a massacre in a Shiite village in 1982 - was filed. Three subordinates also are defendants in the case. The ex-dictator still could be charged with other crimes, but if he is found guilty of the massacre he could be executed first. The trial is seen as unlikely to take place before autumn, if only because Hussein's lawyers have vowed to file multiple motions contesting the legality of the judicial process.

Worried Muslims and their supporters across Britain were pleading for understanding as anger continued to mount over the terrorist bombings in London almost two weeks ago. Three of the bombers have been identified as British citizens of Pakistani Muslim birth; the fourth was a convert to Islam from Jamaica. More than 100 alleged revenge attacks have been reported since the July 7 explosions aboard three subway trains and a bus that killed 55 people and wounded 700 others. Britain's largest Sunni Muslim organization issued a formal edict condemning the attacks, but ordinary Muslims reported feeling ostracized and threatened when appearing in public.

Hurricane Emily battered the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico with 135 m.p.h. winds but spared it loss of life and serious injuries, early reports said, although two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed while trying to evacuate workers from an offshore oil platform. Emily also uprooted trees along the popular vacation region and caused extensive power blackouts, heavy flooding, and damage to local businesses. It is expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico and make its next landfall Wednesday along the shores of northern Mexico or south Texas.