In Brief

* PROBE – Lebanon arrested three former pro-Syrian security chiefs over the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, the first major development in the probe six months after the attack that sent shockwaves through the nation.

* OFFENSIVE – Benjamin Netanyahu was to launch a bid to oust Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the helm of Israel’s Likud party, less than a month after quitting the cabinet in protest at the Gaza Strip pullout. * CONSTITUTION – Iraq’s agitated Sunni Arabs are going all out to win the support of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in defeating the newly-drafted constitution during the October referendum, a top Sunni leader.* NUCLEAR – Two US Congressmen headed for North Korea in a bid to narrow the gaps separating the two sides and urge the Stalinist state to quickly return to talks on its nuclear weapons drive.* ATTACKS – China was stepping up efforts to fight terrorism internationally, and especially to curb Muslim Uighurs seeking an independent ‘East Turkestan’ state in the westernmost Xinjiang region, the state press said.* REBEL – A film-maker who could be jailed for making a documentary called ‘Singapore Rebel’ on an opposition politician said he had surrendered his video camera and tapes to police investigators in the city-state.* TYPHOON – The eastern coastal provinces of China and Taiwan were bracing for Typhoon Talim, expected to hit the region later this week, after Typhoon Haitang earlier this month killed 17, state media reported.* DRUGS – The United Nations counter-narcotics chief said Afghanistan had reduced the production and cultivation of opium for the first time since the Taliban regime fell in 2001.* CLASH – Saudi security forces exchanged fire in the eastern region of Jubail with four Iraqis “who infiltrated into the kingdom to steal cars and smuggle them (to Iraq),” the first incident of its kind, an interior ministry spokesman said early yesterday – Nampa-AFP* CONSTITUTION – Iraq’s agitated Sunni Arabs are going all out to win the support of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in defeating the newly-drafted constitution during the October referendum, a top Sunni leader.* NUCLEAR – Two US Congressmen headed for North Korea in a bid to narrow the gaps separating the two sides and urge the Stalinist state to quickly return to talks on its nuclear weapons drive.* ATTACKS – China was stepping up efforts to fight terrorism internationally, and especially to curb Muslim Uighurs seeking an independent ‘East Turkestan’ state in the westernmost Xinjiang region, the state press said.* REBEL – A film-maker who could be jailed for making a documentary called ‘Singapore Rebel’ on an opposition politician said he had surrendered his video camera and tapes to police investigators in the city-state.* TYPHOON – The eastern coastal provinces of China and Taiwan were bracing for Typhoon Talim, expected to hit the region later this week, after Typhoon Haitang earlier this month killed 17, state media reported. * DRUGS – The United Nations counter-narcotics chief said Afghanistan had reduced the production and cultivation of opium for the first time since the Taliban regime fell in 2001.* CLASH – Saudi security forces exchanged fire in the eastern region of Jubail with four Iraqis “who infiltrated into the kingdom to steal cars and smuggle them (to Iraq),” the first incident of its kind, an interior ministry spokesman said early yesterday – Nampa-AFP