LONDON – Behind stepped-up commitments from the United States and Britain, stark differences are emerging between the two biggest powers operating in Afghanistan about how best to tackle the Taliban and al-Qaeda threat.

BRUSSELS – Tensions among key allies over the war in Afghanistan spilled into the open on Wednesday as NATO rejected U.S. criticism that some of its troops did not know how to fight a guerrilla insurgency.

KERBALA, Iraq – Thousands of Shi’ites gathered in Kerbala on Wednesday for the biggest religious ceremony in the Iraqi holy city since gunbattles between rival factions forced a mass exodus of pilgrims last August.

DAMASCUS – Hamas said on Wednesday that Israeli attacks that killed more than 20 Palestinians in the last two days have dashed prospects for a prisoners’ exchange deal involving an Israeli soldier held by the group.

BRUSSELS – British politician and former soldier Paddy Ashdown has agreed to become the United Nations’ envoy to Afghanistan, a source close to negotiations on the post said on Wednesday.

PARIS – Iraq lacks any true spirit of reconciliation despite parliament’s decision to let former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party return to government jobs, the United Nations’ Baghdad envoy said on Wednesday.

IRAQ – Following are security developments in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday. * denotes new or updated item.

MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Tbilisi for Mikhail Saakashvili’s inauguration as Georgian president, his press department said on Wednesday, despite tense relations between the two countries.

WANA, Pakistan – Hundreds of militants in northwest Pakistan attacked and captured a paramilitary fort early on Wednesday, and 40 militants and seven soldiers were killed and 20 soldiers missing, the military said.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip observed a general strike on Wednesday, in a rare show of unity after Israel killed 18 people in fighting a day earlier.