British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday he would offer a $500 million aid package to the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip if U.S.-led talks this month make progress towards Middle East peace.

Israel’s parliament gave preliminary approval on Wednesday to legislation that would make it more difficult to give up parts of Jerusalem in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

At least two people were killed and six wounded when a suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives attacked a gathering of Sunni Arab tribal sheikhs south of Baghdad on Wednesday, police sources said.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded when they were hit by a roadside bomb in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military reported.Another U.S. soldier was shot and killed near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed dozens of Taliban fighters in the south of the country after an ambush by a large group of insurgents, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

Exiled former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday he was ready to work with another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, against the military rule of President Pervez Musharraf.

Georgia has severely damaged its chances of winning a promise of NATO membership at a summit next April with a crackdown on protests that has shocked even its supporters in the West, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Russia may deploy its newest Iskander tactical missiles in neighboring Belarus in response to U.S. plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe, Russian media quoted a senior general as saying on Wednesday.

US and Iraqi forces killed an estimated 15 Al Qaeda gunmen during a fierce battle south of Baghdad after the fighters launched a major attack on recently formed neighbourhood patrols, the US military said on Tuesday.

Hamas rounded up at least 200 Fateh party members in Gaza on Tuesday, the day after Islamist gunmen killed seven people at a mass rally that underscored the deep divisions between rival Palestinians.