JERUSALEM, Oct. 29 – The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is expected to last until after Israel’s upcoming early general election in mid-February, local news service Ynet reported Wednesday.

WAM, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani rescuers pulled 160 bodies from the rubble of hundreds of mud-walled homes flattened by a powerful earthquake in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, government officials said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday ratified treaties with the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia that will allow Moscow to station thousands of troops there.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Syria called on the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to prevent a repeat of a weekend U.S. attack on Syrian territory, and to hold the United States accountable.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – A Syrian court sentenced 12 dissidents to 2-1/2 years each in prison on Wednesday for political crimes after they had called for democratic reforms.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. helicopter attack into Syria this week underscores the Bush administration’s determination to cross borders when it can strike an enemy target, and to weather any international backlash.

Iraqi authorities have taken over responsibility for security in another province from US military forces.

A boat carrying 27 pro-Palestinian activists has arrived in Gaza despite an Israeli blockade of the territory – the second such voyage in three months.

Syria has reduced the sentences of 12 pro-democracy activists from six years to two-and-a-half years each in prison, a human rights group has said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi Tuesday said that the necessary infrastructure for the country’s all-out development is prepared.