Middle Orient

At least six children were reported killed in mortar attacks close to where scores of dignitaries were holding a long-awaited peace conference in the Somali capital Thursday.

Iranian President Mamoud Ahmadinejad mocked Israel and called for Lebanese unity during meetings in Damascus Thursday with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad and Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Sunni legislators returned to Iraq’s parliament Thursday after a five-week boycott, raising hopes the assembly can make progress on power-sharing bills demanded by Washington before the lawmakers take a month’s break.

Prosecutors have charged Jordanian doctor Mohammad Asha with conspiracy to cause explosions over failed car bombings last month, the fourth indictment over the attacks, British police said Thursday.

A TOP PLO body gave its approval Thursday to President Mahmoud Abbas to call new presidential and legislative elections, a high-stakes gamble meant to sideline Hamas, but also bound to set off new confrontations with the Islamists and cement the West Bank-Gaza divide.

A suicide car bomber has hit a paramilitary checkpoint, killing four people in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, the latest attack in a wave of violence sweeping the country in recent weeks.

Israel released 255 Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a series of goodwill gestures designed to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his standoff against Hamas.

More than 250 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons have received a rapturous welcome from relatives and friends in Ramallah, on the West Bank.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab bloc has ended its boycott of the Shi’ite-dominated parliament, officials said on Thursday, in a positive sign for the country’s faltering attempts at national reconciliation.

KABUL (Reuters) – Iranian arms are entering Afghanistan and reaching Taliban insurgents in such quality and quantity that the Tehran government must know about it, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul said on Tuesday.