Middle Orient

WASHINGTON — Confronted with strong opposition to his Iraq policies, President George W. Bush decides to interpret public opinion his own way. Actually, he says, people agree with him.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President George W. Bush imposed new US sanctions on Sudan on Tuesday and sought support for an international arms embargo out of frustration at Sudan’s refusal to end what he called a genocide in Darfur.

RAMALLAH — Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters battled it out for over 45 minutes in Ramallah yesterday evening, when a large contingent of Israeli soldiers entered the West Bank city in what the Israeli army said was an “arrest operation”.

BEIRUT (AP) — Heavy clashes between the army and Al Qaeda-linked gunmen broke a weeklong truce Tuesday as Lebanon’s government stressed its determination to defeat the group but said it was willing to give mediation a chance to end the fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp.

38 dead in blast, 5 Britons seized BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped five Britons in Baghdad on Tuesday and the deaths of 10 US soldiers were announced, making May the deadliest month for the US military in more than two years.

AMMAN/DAMASCUS (AFP & Petra) — King Abdullah on Tuesday telephoned Syrian President Bashar Assad to congratulate him for winning a second seven-year mandate, officials announced on Tuesday.

The slander trial against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor ended on Sunday (May 27th) with a Libyan court dismissing the charges against the medics, who already face death sentences for allegedly infecting 426 Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS.

SANAA — Lunchtime in Sanaa. Offices begin to close, the crowds disappear from the ancient souqs, restaurants hurry their last customers out: The qat is here.

TEL AVIV (AFP) — Israel’s Labour was voting for a new leader Monday in a poll expected to affect Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s coalition, with ex-premier Ehud Barak in a tight race with a former security chief.

ANKARA (AFP) — Lawmakers from Turkey’s main ruling and opposition parties traded blows Monday during a stormy national debate on constitutional changes that would see the president elected by popular vote.