By Huda al Husseini The situation in Lebanon continues to escalate with no signs of a resolution. What is happening today is larger than Lebanon; it is an Arab cold war not unlike the one that took place in the

Israeli forces killed 17 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip otoday, medical officials and witnesses said.

Iraq's government replaces the heads of the army and police forces in Basra after a failed assault on militias.

An Israeli air strike reportedly kills 11 Palestinians in Gaza after a Hamas attack which left three soldiers dead.

A visit by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn to Turkey was seen as a show of support for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel reiterates his opposition to Kosovo's division. Also in diplomatic news this week: German President Horst Koehler is in Croatia, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan is in London.

ANKARA, Turkey -- The government has forwarded a bill to parliament that would amend a controversial law criminalising any insult to Turkish identity...

Three Israeli soldiers and four Hamas gunmen were killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip today, the Israeli military and Hamas said. Later, Hamas said nine civilians had been kiled in an Israeli air strike.

Washington & Beirut - U.S. Charge d'Affaires Michele Sison denied that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the absence of a president in Lebanon was not a problem and that her top priority was to keep Premier Fouad Siniora

Washington & Beirut - A ranking official with a pro-Israeli lobbying group in the United States says a military strike on Iran is "likely" but awaits a "major provocation."

Beirut, Lebanon - Hizbullah slammed the international community for failing to act in the face of what it called repeated incursions by Israeli troops.

Beirut & Washington - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said last year's battles between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam fighters at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp would have had a different ending had the U.S. not

Jerusalem - Former President Jimmy Carter plans to urge Syria to play a more constructive role in Lebanon and Iraq, following his meeting with Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas leader with control over militants in the Gaza Strip.

By Borzou Daragahi Turkey's president and prime minister have stepped in to save the life of a Turkish man sentenced to die in Saudi Arabia.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today reaffirmed his doubts about the accepted version of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, describing the strikes as a "suspect event". "Four or five years ago a suspect event took place in

Two Nato soldiers are killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the alliance says in a statement.

Two RAF servicemen killed in an explosion in Afghanistan are named by the Ministry of Defence.

Hundreds of mourners pay their last respects to Royal Marine David Marsh who was killed last month in Afghanistan.

Several television stations in Afghanistan ignore a government ban on broadcasting Indian soap operas.

Tributes are paid to the oldest British serviceman killed in the wars in either Iraq or Afghanistan.