GAZA CITY (AFP) — Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siam said Sunday it could take a year for his Hamas government to end armed chaos in Gaza after three people were killed in clashes between rival gunmen.

MOGADISHU — Somali warlords are destroying Muse Suldan’s dream to be a teacher. The 12-year-old often flees Mogadishu and misses school to escape gunbattles between rival militias. Like a generation of young Somalis, he has never known peace or lived under a formal government, growing up in anarchy after strongman …

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) — Ethnic riots in southeast Turkey in the past week left nine dead in the worst urban violence to hit the region in a decade, reviving memories of the height of a Kurdish rebellion that has claimed more than 37,000

AMMAN — Iraq’s resistance has replaced Abu Mussab Zarqawi as political head of the rebels, confining him to a military role, the son of Osama Ben Laden’s mentor told AFP Sunday in Jordan.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israel on Sunday took its first steps towards forming a new government expected to be led by interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who wants to set the country’s final borders with or without Palestinian agreement.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Asad have signed a joint declaration on the further development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. The declaration signed on Tuesday during Asad’s visit to Moscow said that “the world order

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of blocking Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization. At a meeting with Russian businessmen on Wednesday he said progress in the Russian-US talks on WTO entry was being artificially delayed, Mayak radio station reported.

Gazprom offered Belarus’ national Beltransgaz to buy Russian gas at European prices starting in 2007, Gazprom’s press service reported quoting a statement made by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller at his meeting with Belarusian Energy Minister Alexander Ageyev and Beltransgaz General Director Dmitry Kazakov.

Disagreements between the United States and Russia over Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be settled within the next month or month and a half, Russian Economy Minister German Gref said. Negotiations are not simple but “we will make progress and reach an agreement within 1-1.5 months,” …

The amount of mortgages issued under housing programs in Russia would rise to between RUR 108 billion and RUR 110 billion by the end of this year, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a conference on the involvement of Russian credit organizations in the implementation of national project.