BEIRUT (AFP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged Israel Monday to lift its blockade of Lebanon, and pressed Hizbollah to free Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked a devastating 34-day onslaught on the Jewish state’s northern neighbour.

DIWANIYAH (AP) — Shiites armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic assault rifles battled Iraqi forces for 12 hours Monday, leaving 40 people dead, mostly soldiers, and underlining the Shiite-led government’s difficulties as it tries to rein in the violent sectarian forces of a cleric.

TIBNINE — “UN welcome” reads a faded sign on an old tailor’s shop in the south Lebanese town of Tibnine. In a nearby village, Ghanaian soldiers peruse the shelves of a shop selling everything from rugs to radios.

ISTANBUL — Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a country with close ties to both Israel and Arab states, seems to many in Europe and the United States to be an ideal contributor to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

ISTANBUL — Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a country with close ties to both Israel and Arab states, seems to many in Europe and the United States to be an ideal contributor to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

ALGIERS (Reuters) — Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi has scolded his nation for over-reliance on oil, foreigners and imports and told it to start manufacturing things people need.

Israel is taking serious steps to ensure that it’s well prepared in the event of a possible war with Iran. The Jewish state has bought two German-made nuclear-capable submarines, and Israel’s army chief, Dan Halutz, appointed a top officer to be a “campaign manager” for Tehran.

Seen as an important bridge for the transfer of energy resources from Central Asia and the Caucuses to the rest of the world, Turkey is taking significant steps toward reinforcing its strategic position in the world.

Nearly 60 people, including a prominent tribal leader, are thought to have been killed in a battle between government forces and fighters in Baluchistan. Earlier on Saturday an interior ministry official said that 21 members of the security forces and 37 rebel fighters were killed in the fighting, which appeared …

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Maliki won important support Saturday for his national unity plan from hundreds of tribal chiefs, and from the release of a leading Sunni Arab lawmaker returned by her captors as a gift to his project.