In Brief

* IRAQ UNREST – Four members of Iraq’s plainclothes National Security force were gunned down along with a child in broad daylight by armed men in the southern port city of Basra.

* HOSTAGE REUNION – Jill Carroll, the American journalist who spent 82 days as a hostage in Iraq, returns to a tearful reunion with her family. * RECONCILIATION – Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for reconciliation and says he will speak later in the day after weekend polls undermined his hopes of ending months of turmoil and winning a strong mandate to lead the nation.* VIOLENCE – A local leader of an armed Palestinian group was shot dead by Israeli special forces in the West Bank, security sources said.* CRITICISM – Labour leader Amir Peretz came in for wide-ranging criticism, including from within his own party, over a bid to stitch together a coalition with the right despite losing the Israeli election.* FRENCH PROTESTS – French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin convoked cabinet ministers as students called for a rolling nationwide strike starting with a mass protest against a new labour deregulation law.* POPE TRIBUTE – Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the “immense heritage” left by his predecessor, John Paul II, as Catholics around the world attended special masses and prayers marking the first anniversary of the late pontiff’s death.- Nampa-AFP* RECONCILIATION – Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for reconciliation and says he will speak later in the day after weekend polls undermined his hopes of ending months of turmoil and winning a strong mandate to lead the nation.* VIOLENCE – A local leader of an armed Palestinian group was shot dead by Israeli special forces in the West Bank, security sources said.* CRITICISM – Labour leader Amir Peretz came in for wide-ranging criticism, including from within his own party, over a bid to stitch together a coalition with the right despite losing the Israeli election.* FRENCH PROTESTS – French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin convoked cabinet ministers as students called for a rolling nationwide strike starting with a mass protest against a new labour deregulation law.* POPE TRIBUTE – Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the “immense heritage” left by his predecessor, John Paul II, as Catholics around the world attended special masses and prayers marking the first anniversary of the late pontiff’s death. – Nampa-AFP