DUBAI

The foreign minister of one Muslim country, Indonesia, says radical groups are exploiting genuine public anger over the prophet Muhammad cartoons for their own ends. A United States military spokesperson also says extremist groups may be inciting the protests.

Two shots into the water cost Tiger Woods the lead at the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday. Danish journeyman Anders Hansen made nine birdies for a nine-under 63 and Retief Goosen celebrated his 39th birthday with a five-under 67 to share the second-round lead at 13-under 131.

He won the Buick Invitational in San Diego on Sunday. Then he flew across 12 time zones — halfway around the world — to play at the tip of the Arabian peninsula in the Dubai Desert Classic. No problem for golf’s most international player. His five-under 67 in Thursday’s first round in Dubai put him three strokes off the lead, shared by Retief Goosen, Richard Green and Jamie Donaldson.

Golf’s ”quiet man”, Retief Goosen, has been quieter than usual over the past six weeks while enjoying a seasonal break back home in South Africa. But it did not take the two-times United States Open winner long to find his marks at the Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday.

South Africa powered their way into the quarterfinals of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with an inspiring 19-7 win over Argentina in their final pool game. After negotiating the early pool matches against tricky opponents Portugal and Scotland, the Boks shifted up a gear as the desert evening set in.

South Africa go into their five-match one-day international series against India, which starts in Hyderabad on Wednesday, just three matches away from a new world record. Graeme Smith’s side are unbeaten in their past 19 matches (16 wins, two no-results and a tie), which leaves them just two games short of Australia’s record mark of 21.

Militants loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq threatened to intensify their campaign of violence sharply unless United States and Iraqi forces end a major offensive near the Syrian border, in an internet statement posted on Monday. The statement also promised to destroy the homes of Iraqi soldiers and government employees.

Libya plans to scrap the death penalty to clear the way for the settlement of a diplomatic row over five Bulgarian nurses on death row after hundreds of children were infected with the Aids virus, an Arabic daily said on Wednesday. The deal would involve financial compensation for the infected children’s families.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam on Monday rejected a call by United States President George Bush for Tripoli to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses who were sentenced to death in May last year. ”This is a legal matter which cannot be influenced by any political decision,” the minister said.

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up at an Iraqi police recruitment centre on Wednesday, killing five people in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda’s Iraq frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. United States President George Bush warned again of an upsurge in violence ahead of next month’s vote on the draft Iraqi Constitution.

Iraq’s most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been wounded, his al-Qaeda front group said on its website on Tuesday in a statement that could not be verified. Zarqawi is Iraq’s most wanted man with a -million United States bounty on his head. His group has claimed a string of devastating attacks, assassinations and kidnappings.

Lawyers representing Saddam Hussein plan to sue the British tabloid that published intimate photos of the deposed Iraqi dictator, Al-Jazeera television reported on Friday, quoting the head of the defence team. The photos appeared in The Sun, one showing Saddam wearing only his underpants.

Africa should unite to ensure that it secures the two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council rather than fighting ”like dogs for a bone that cannot be seen”, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. ”We will not bad-mouth other countries to get the seats,” she said.

Venus Williams lost in the first round for the first time in four years when she was upset by Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the Dubai Women’s Open on Monday. Williams’ previous first-round defeat was at the 2001 French Open to Barbara Schett. Williams also lost her first match at Moscow in October 2002 to Magdalena Maleeva but after a first-round bye.

Supporters of Iraq’s most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, executed an Egyptian driver on a street in broad daylight, accusing him of working with United States-led forces, according to an internet video on Monday. On Friday, Zarqawi’s group posted a video on an Islamist website showing the beheading of two Iraqis.

An Indian man who beat his wife in the belief that uncomplimentary SMSes she had sent to friends regarding her dog were about him, has been fined by a Dubai court, local newspaper Gulf News reported on Monday. ”He doesn’t listen to me. He doesn’t like the food I give him,” said one of the SMSes.

A previously unknown group threatened on Wednesday to kill three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi it claims to have abducted if, within 48 hours, the premier does not halt the assault on Fallujah and if all Iraqi prisoners are not freed, it said in an internet statement.

A statement posted on an Islamist website, purportedly from the captors of two French journalists in Iraq, gave France 48 hours on Monday to accept three new conditions — agreeing to a recent truce offer by Osama bin Laden, payment of -million ransom and a pledge not to get involved in Iraq.