Middle Orient

Monarch condoles Mubarak, writer’s family CAIRO — Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, died Wednesday at the age of 94, bringing tributes from literary figures and world leaders for an author who became a symbol of liberalism in the face of extremism.

VIENNA (AP) — A defiant Iran continued to enrich uranium up to two days before the UN Security Council’s deadline Thursday for Tehran to freeze such activity or face the threat of sanctions, UN and European officials said Wednesday.

SRIFA — Every window in Srifa’s main school has been blown out by Israeli bombs.

UNITED NATIONS — Britain on Tuesday circulated a revised draft resolution in the Security Council urging the deployment of UN troops in Sudan’s Darfur region with Khartoum’s consent, hoping to put it to a vote by Thursday.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday said he hoped to soon double to 5,000 the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon and urged Israel and Hizbollah to swiftly end rows blocking a permanent ceasefire.

TEHRAN (AFP) — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged his US counterpart George W. Bush to a live television debate as he shrugged off the threat of sanctions two days ahead of a UN deadline for Iran to halt sensitive atomic work.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister issued a fresh call Tuesday for armed groups to be dissolved after his office raised the death toll in fighting between government forces and Shiite fighters to 73.

KHARTOUM  (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir rebuffed a plea from Washington’s top Africa envoy Tuesday to allow a UN peacekeeping force in strife-torn Darfur, after forcing her to extend her visit to secure a meeting at all.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert came under heavy criticism Tuesday for announcing the creation of a committee of inquiry to examine the failures of the Lebanon war rather than a powerful independent commission.

ALGIERS (Reuters) — Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will decide soon whether or not to extend a six-month amnesty expiring on Monday for Islamist rebels who have fought for years to overthrow the government, state radio reported.