AMMAN — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday said he held talks with King Abdullah on the “urgency for a new strong initiative to effectively” address Mideast crises.

RAMALLAH — Fateh and Hamas met again in Gaza last night to discuss forming a unity government while a number of incidents across the occupied Palestinian territory provided ample evidence of the state of lawlessness Palestinians are struggling with.

US President George W. Bush prepared to urge opponents in Congress on Tuesday to back sending thousands more troops to Iraq, as the UN envoy in the country said it was “sliding into the abyss of sectarianism”. A day after bombers killed 88 people in Baghdad’s bloodiest attack this year, …

MOGADISHU (AP) — Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia’s government drive out Islamist fighters began withdrawing from this Horn of Africa nation on Tuesday in military trucks and tanks.

DUBAI (AFP) — Osama Ben Laden’s right-hand man Ayman Zawahiri on Tuesday mocked US President George W. Bush’s plan to send extra troops to Iraq, saying he should send his entire army to be annihilated.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s power struggle has resurrected an old rivalry between Christian leaders whose followers clashed on Tuesday during some of the worst unrest since a 1975-1990 civil war.

DUBAI (AP) — A second US aircraft carrier strike group now steaming towards the Middle East is Washington’s way of warning Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region, a top US diplomat said here Tuesday.

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TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The committee for revising Iran’s relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency has decided to deny granting entry permits to 38 IAEA inspectors, a senior MP said here on Monday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Monday that Tehran has forwarded letters of similar contents to the 14 permanent and non-permanent UN Security Council member states to protest at a recent resolution passed by the UNSC against its nuclear activities.