BAGHDAD — Tall concrete blast walls surrounding hotels and government buildings have long been a feature of Baghdad’s war-torn urban landscape, but now these tombstones are swallowing up the city’s historic markets to the chagrin of merchants.

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Forces from the Somali semi-autonomous state of Puntland on Sunday moved to secure mountainous and remote areas where a US warship shelled suspected Al Qaeda targets, residents said.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — At least 14 more American troops were killed in Iraq over the weekend, the military said Sunday, as a former US commander warned victory in the intractable conflict was now beyond reach.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday brushed off a Hamas ceasefire feeler, pledging instead to press ahead with Israel’s campaign against Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip and stop their daily rocket fire.

NAHR BARED (AFP) — Lebanese troops pounded Islamists holed up in a refugee camp throughout Sunday as the deadly standoff entered its third week with both sides vowing to fight to the end.

Fighting has spread to a second Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon after an army checkpoint near Ain al-Hilweh in the south was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades. The attack and ensuing gunfights wounded five people and came as troops continued their latest assault against Fatah al-Islam fighters at Nahr al-Bared in …

Lipsa auditului extern, declararea ca incompatibilă a calităţii de avocat cu cea de parlamentar şi limitarea puterii inspectorului de integritate sunt puncte considerate esenţiale de Macovei în Legea ANI care nu au trecut de Parlament şi care nu s-ar regăsi nici în ordonanţa care modifică legea.

WASHINGTON — US President George W.  Bush on Friday strongly condemned Iran’s detention of American citizens and called for them to be freed “immediately and unconditionally.” Tehran has accused dual US-Iranian citizens Haleh Esfandiari, an academic, Kian Tajbakhsh, a social scientist, and Parnaz Azima, a journalist, of spying. The State …

CAIRO (AP) — A Muslim Brotherhood blogger was released Saturday after a 45-day detention, but the crackdown against the group continued, with 51 Brotherhood members arrested in recent days, police said.

MOGADISHU (AFP) — A US warship shelled suspected Al Qaeda targets in northeastern Somalia after Islamist fighters clashed with troops from the country’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland, witnesses and officials said Saturday.