President Vladimir Putin, ignoring criticism he is using his post for campaign purposes, told Russians in a nationwide TV broadcast on Thursday to go and vote for his United Russia party in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.“I ask you to turn out for the elections on December 2 and vote for United …

A roadside bomb killed five Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border on Thursday while 10 villagers were killed in fighting between soldiers and militants in another area, an official and witnesses said.

Hurling bricks and glass bottles, Pakistani lawyers and police clashed in the eastern city of Lahore as President Pervez Musharraf was sworn in for a second term on Thursday, amid demands he be hanged.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday that failure to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians could threaten Israel’s long-term survival.

Israel killed four Hamas fighters in two air strikes in the south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Hamas officials and Palestinian medical staff said.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was sworn in for a second term on Thursday, but this time as a civilian leader a day after quitting as army chief and fulfilling a promise many Pakistanis doubted he would keep.

A roadside bomb killed five Pakistani soldiers on Thursday in a tribal region on the Afghan border where the army has been battling to subdue Islamist rebels, a military spokesman said.

Pakistani lawyers protesting against President Pervez Musharraf clashed with police in the city of Lahore on Thursday, as Musharraf was being sworn in for a new term in the capital.

Palestinian police killed one man in the West Bank on Tuesday as it broke up rallies against a US peace meeting, while Hamas supporters in Gaza rallied in force against the conference.

Under the gaze of an Israeli tank, Syrian bulldozers slice through rocky terrain to build roads just inside a ceasefire line separating the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria.