GAZA (Reuters) – An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip that could ease a crippling Israeli blockade of the coastal territory will begin Thursday, Egypt and Hamas said.

KIEV (Reuters) – NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Tuesday he would try to persuade all NATO members to back the idea of extending to Ukraine a Membership Action Plan (MAP), a step to joining the military alliance.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Lebanese political leader allied to Hezbollah indicated on Tuesday a prisoner swap deal between the militant Islamic group and Israel may be close.

(Reuters) – A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is to begin on Thursday in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said. Following are some key facts about the Hamas-controlled territory. WHERE IS GAZA? * The Gaza Strip is a sliver of towns, villages and farmland at the southeast end …

ANKARA (Reuters) – The Turkish military said on Tuesday it had opened fire on 21 Kurdish PKK fighters trying to enter Turkey from northern Iraq. The General Staff, in a statement on its Internet site, said its forces opened fire on the guerrillas late on Monday 3 km (2 miles) …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of families fled their homes in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as foreign and Afghan forces prepare to drive out Taliban insurgents who have overrun several villages, officials and witnesses said. About 600 Taliban insurgents took over several villages in Arghandab district in the south on …

GAZA (Reuters) – Envoys from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to brief members there on his bid for reconciliation with the territory’s Islamist Hamas rulers, officials said. It was the first Fatah mission to Gaza since Hamas took over a year ago, triggering …

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Israel and Syria agreed this week to hold new rounds of indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey in July, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Israel and Syria concluded a second round of indirect peace talks on Monday and agreed to continue the negotiations, though not face-to-face …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed six Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical workers said, amid Egyptian efforts to broker a truce between Israel and militant groups in the Hamas-controlled territory. The Islamic Jihad militant group said five of its members were killed when a missile …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Egyptian-mediated truce that appears likely between Israel and Hamas will begin with only a gradual and partial easing of an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, officials said on Tuesday. “If Hamas keeps the ceasefire, we can gradually deliver more goods and supplies,” an Israeli official …