Middle Orient News

Lebanese troops have fought new battles with Islamist militants around a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country, reports say.

A special Israeli envoy gave Egypt last week a list of Hamas prisoners Israel is prepared to release in an exchange for abducted Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported.

A delegation of Israel’s liberal Meretz party will on Sunday travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, the party said in a statement.

The EU is scaling back its monitoring mission at the Gaza-Egypt border, a spokeswoman said Saturday, suggesting that Gaza’s only gateway to the world won’t open again anytime soon.

Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey’s chief of general staff, told a security conference in Antalya on Tuesday (July 3rd) that there is not enough international co-operation in fighting Kurdish terrorists.

The United States needs to step up efforts to prevent Kurdish separatists from operating cross-border attacks on Turkey from Iraq, US and Turkish officials said.

President George W. Bush sought on Wednesday to rally support for the war in Iraq, appealing to Americans on Independence Day for “more patience, more courage and more sacrifice”.

The US tactic of using armed Sunni tribesmen in the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq offers short-term gains to weaken the insurgency, but could set the stage for a full-scale sectarian civil war when the Americans begin to draw down their forces.

Darija, the language Moroccans use in everyday life, is coming to the fore in media and music and prompting calls it be declared a national language as some in the North African country ask for the first time: “Who are we?” Morocco’s official language is standard Arabic.

Held in solitary confinement, handcuffed, hooded and threatened with death, Alan Johnston spoke on Wednesday about his “frightening” ordeal in Gaza, saying it was like being buried alive.