UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) — Violence is surging in Sudan’s south as well as its western Darfur region, fuelled by government inaction even after years of global attention, UN envoy Jan Pronk told the Security Council on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen wounded dozens of Shiite pilgrims and killed two in Baghdad on Wednesday, raking their vehicles with machinegun fire in the latest outbreak of sectarian violence that is threatening Iraq with civil war.

RAMALLAH — Hamas yesterday said it had reached agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to convene the Palestinian parliament Monday for a vote of confidence in the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. “We received an application from [prime minister- designate] Ismail Haniyeh for the session to be on Saturday but we …

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AFP) — US President George W. Bush defended his Iraq war strategy Monday, as the conflict entered its fourth year amid mounting sectarian strife and lower-than-ever support in the United States.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Suspected insurgents marked the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq Monday with roadside bombings that killed at least eight policemen, and authorities reported finding 15 more bullet-riddled bodies, one of them a 13-year-old girl, dumped in the capital and in the Tigris River south of …

RAMALLAH — Fateh-affiliated gunmen stormed government buildings, briefly took over a power plant and blocked a vital road in the Gaza Strip on Monday, as the coastal strip lurched from humanitarian crisis to security chaos.

RAMALLAH — Hamas yesterday announced it had decided on the next Palestinian Cabinet and will present the names to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday, two weeks ahead of the deadline. Talks with other Palestinian factions ended Friday with no apparent agreements struck, leaving Hamas no choice but to form a …

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran’s most prominent political prisoner, dissident Akbar Ganji, was released late Friday night after six years in prison.Visibly thinner and sporting a bushy beard, Ganji smiled and greeted family and friends Saturday but refused to make any comments.

BRUSSELS — After a quarter of a century in exile, the leader of Syria’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood scents power after forming a coalition with secular, nationalist, liberal, communist and Kurdish opposition parties.

BAGHDAD (AP) — American and Iraqi troops pushing through a desolate area of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland rounded up dozens more suspected insurgents, including alleged killers of a television journalist, US and Iraqi officials said Saturday. The three-day-old sweep through villages 60 miles north of Baghdad stirred growing unease among …