GAZA CITY (AFP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community on Wednesday to “halt Israeli aggression” after nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops.

Monarch condoles Mubarak, writer’s family CAIRO — Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, died Wednesday at the age of 94, bringing tributes from literary figures and world leaders for an author who became a symbol of liberalism in the face of extremism.

VIENNA (AP) — A defiant Iran continued to enrich uranium up to two days before the UN Security Council’s deadline Thursday for Tehran to freeze such activity or face the threat of sanctions, UN and European officials said Wednesday.

SRIFA — Every window in Srifa’s main school has been blown out by Israeli bombs.

UNITED NATIONS — Britain on Tuesday circulated a revised draft resolution in the Security Council urging the deployment of UN troops in Sudan’s Darfur region with Khartoum’s consent, hoping to put it to a vote by Thursday.