TOKYO, Jan. 9 – Japan is studying the feasibility of sending a special envoy to related countries to help end hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, Kyodo News said Friday. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session that Tatsuo Arima, special envoy on the …

UNITED NATIONS – China on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and the comprehensive and effective implementation of the new Security Council resolution by all parties concerned. Zhang Yesui, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, said the newly adopted resolution reflects the shared expectations and desires …

Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict. Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled a house in …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict. Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Many voices around the world speak up for the Palestinians, but few in the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers in Washington routinely pass nonbinding resolutions supporting Israel during Middle East crises. The Senate has backed Israel’s ongoing battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and the House of …

KABUL (Reuters) – Two U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in a market in southern Afghanistan, NATO said Friday, adding the Taliban had claimed responsibility. The attack happened Thursday beside a busy market in the Maywand district of Kandahar province and a district police chief told …

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – In an apparent reversal of earlier promises to Arab states, the United States on Thursday abstained from voting on a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the decision to abstain was because the United States first …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani conferred with head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Wednesday over the latest conditions in the Gaza Strip. The meeting was also attended by several high level officials from Hamas at the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital. The meeting …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran asked Japan to play a larger role in opposing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone held talks by telephone at Tehran’s request, the Japanese foreign ministry said. “Foreign Minister Mottaki said Iran expects Japan to play …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held a meeting on Wednesday with visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on the situation in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting, the two officials discussed “efforts and actions that must be taken by Arab and Islamic countries to stop the Israeli aggression on …