Middle Orient

 One U.S. soldier was killed and 10 were wounded in combat operations in central Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian during a raid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian hospital workers said.

Syria began requiring visas for Iraqis entering the country Monday, hoping to stem the flow of refugees fleeing violence in their homeland, a Syrian official said.

US seeks to dissolve the central government in Baghdad through dividing Iraq into Shiite, Sunnite and Kurd-residing regions, advisor to the former Iraqi prime minister said, adding that the US troops have handicapped Nuri al-Maliki’s administration.

Lebanese groups can disappoint the Untied States through cooperating with each other in the presidential elections, deputy head of the Lebanese Hezbollah group Sheikh Naim Qasem said.

New York – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged the United States’ objection to a preliminary deal signed by Turkey and Iran over the summer to deepen their bilateral cooperation in the energy field, saying that the deal concerned solely the two neighboring countries.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday adjourned for four weeks a crucial session to elect a new president for lack of a quorum and to allow more time for MPs to reach agreement on a consensus candidate.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – US President George W. Bush told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Tuesday that his government must do more to help advance national reconciliation.

BAGHDAD (AP)- A suicide car bomber Tuesday attacked a police headquarters in Basra, killing at least three policemen, wounding 20 other people and raising fears about security in the oil-rich southern city now that British forces have withdrawn.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli minister said on Tuesday his country should exchange jailed Palestinian Intifada leader Marwan Barghouthi for an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza fighters more than a year ago.