Middle Orient

ANKARA (AP) — Turkey’s military, building up troops on the Iraqi border, said Thursday it was ready to launch a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish fighters — pressuring the government to support the idea which could strain ties with Washington and lead to tensions with Iraqi Kurds.

BEIRUT (AFP) — The UN vote to set up an international court for the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri was hailed by his supporters on Thursday but it stirred up fears of more instability in the deeply-divided country.

FALLUJAH (Reuters) — A suicide bomber killed up to 20 men queuing at a police recruitment centre west of Baghdad on Thursday, police said, and Al Qaeda members battled a rival Sunni faction in the south of the capital.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip wounded two Palestinians trying to fire a rocket on Thursday as violence continued in the lawless territory despite international appeals for restraint.

Tension is rising on Turkey’s border with Iraq amid speculation Ankara may be about to launch an incursion to tackle Kurdish rebels.

Looking back, it is strange how many years it has taken the liberals among us to understand that Israeli democracy needs safeguards – not against organizations trying to bring it down, or a political structure that can undermine it, or a too-powerful internal force that draws strength from the lack …

SIRTE, Libya (AFP) — British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed “completely transformed” relations with oil-rich Libya after talks with Muammar Qadhafi, the leader of a country now firmly back in the international fold.

TEHRAN (Reuters) — Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment, the key UN demand in a nuclear row with Tehran, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said the day before talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

BEIRUT — Bombings in Beirut and violence in north Lebanon are jeopardising Lebanon’s tourism industry, just as the normally lucrative summer season approaches, the country’s tourism minister said on Wednesday.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Vice Premier Shimon Peres announced his candidacy Wednesday for president of Israel, an office tarnished by rape and other sexual misconduct allegations against its current occupant, Moshe Katsav.