Middle Orient

DAMASCUS – A score of young Iraqi women in tight, shimmering gowns shuffle across the nightclub dance floor under the hungry eyes of Gulf Arabs at nearby tables.

ANKARA – Turkish police have foiled a plot to murder a priest, in a case that recalls other attacks this year against Christians in Muslim but secular Turkey, newspapers reported on Monday.

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest killed four Iraqi neighborhood patrol volunteers at a checkpoint on Baghdad’s northern outskirts on Monday, police said.

JERUSALEM – The number of people killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dropped sharply in 2007, but human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank increased, an Israeli human rights watchdog said on Monday.

NEW DELHI – India has ended its high alert for forces along the Pakistan border and restored some transport links, officials said on Monday, following disruption in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

LONDON – Pakistan’s political leaders must strive for democracy, which would stand as a lasting memorial to assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.

NAUDERO, Pakistan – Benazir Bhutto’s 19-year-old son — a student with no political experience — was named symbolic leader of her party Sunday, while her husband took effective control, extending Pakistan’s most enduring political dynasty.

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled out relaxing Israel’s grip on the occupied West Bank until the Palestinians rein in militants after a shooting attack killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers.

SANKASAR, Iraq – Since Turkish warplanes turned her village home into a heap of rubble last week, mother of eight Aziya Rasheed says she has lost all hope for the future.

DUBAI – Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Washington of plotting to take control of Iraq’s oil and urged Iraqis to reject efforts to rebuild a U.S.-backed national unity government there.