MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s parliament unanimously approved resolutions on Monday calling for the recognition of two rebel regions of Georgia as independent states, a move likely to worsen already strained relations with the West.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The Pakistani Taliban have “the upper hand” and should be put on the list of banned organizations in Pakistan, said Asif Ali Zardari, who has been nominated by his party to be the country’s next president.

KARACHI (Reuters) – Gunmen in the Pakistani port city of Karachi set fire to two armored personnel carriers (APCs) bound for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, police said on Monday.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Militants attacked the home of a district government official in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on Monday, killing three members of his family and seven guards, police said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Authorities in northwest Pakistan are urgently seeking millions of dollars to help up to 300,000 people who have fled from fighting between government forces and militants.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia’s main east-west railway was reopened overnight following a fuel train explosion on the line west of the central town of Gori, Georgian Railways said on Monday.

In a move set to further strain tensions with the West, deputies in Russia’s Duma have backed Georgian separatists’ battle for independence.

Russia is continuing to frustrate the West over its pullout from Georgia, and is yet to respond to calls for an urgent summit planned for next week. France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy brokered the deal which ended the fighting, but Moscow’s delays have annoyed many governments. Critics are particularly alarmed by …

Hours before the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to arrive, Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners in a gesture aimed at boosting Middle East peace. The group of 198 included the longest-serving prisonner held by Israel. Said al-Atabeh was arrested in 1977 and jailed for life for …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel will be targeted by thousands of rockets if it attacks Iran, a senior official in the Lebanese Hezbollah group said on Sunday.