Iran Tuesday described former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as a criminal who deserved to die, urging for the death sentence on him to be carried out.

Turkey, Romania and Greece will jointly launch a naval exercise, dubbed "Turkish Minex-2006", on the Aegean Sea from Nov. 8 to 17, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Violence continued in Thailand's troubled South on Tuesday as three persons were killed in separate suspected insurgent attacks. The incidents took place one day ahead of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's planned visit to the region, the Thai News Agency reported.

A student suspected of triggering a home-made bomb at a school in Thai northern province of Chiang Mai on Tuesday has been arrested, a local source told Xinhua.

Afghanistan Tuesday repeated its firm opposition to fencing border with Pakistan.

Indonesia welcomes the presence of foreign observers to monitor the first-direct poll on Dec. 11 in Aceh province, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said in Jakarta Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pulled out of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun before daybreak Tuesday, ending the six-day-old Operation Autumn Clouds, the army said.

A tornado hit eastern Hokkaido town of Saroma Tuesday afternoon, killing at least nine people and injuring 10 others at a tunnel construction site, Kyodo News said.

The Fijian military Tuesday called on the country's Australian police chief to stand down.

Five Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya reported.