Middle Orient

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO has approved plans to take charge of security responsibilities in Afghanistan’s volatile south in what will likely be one of its most testing missions ever, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Tire, Lebanon (Reuters) – Car after car races north along the coastal road toward Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Each vehicle is adorned with white: white flags, white T-shirts, white sheets, white plastic bags, white rags.

KABUL (Reuters) – All 16 people aboard a helicopter, including several foreigners, were killed in Wednesday’s crash in rugged mountain terrain in southeastern Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition forces said. The cause of the crash was not known, but it took place in an area where insurgents are active. At least two …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistan must provide written security assurances as part of a deal for $5.1 billion in American-made F-16 fighter jets and no equipment will be transferred until anti-diversion protections are in place, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has promised Congress.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 23 Palestinians in fighting across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including at least 11 militants, three children and a handicapped man, medics and witnesses said.

PARIS (Reuters) – The families of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah guerrillas appealed to the French government on Wednesday to use its contacts with Lebanon to help bring their sons home.

Tire, Lebanon (Reuters) – Hizbollah guerrillas and advancing Israeli troops fought pitched battles at the entrance to a key town in south Lebanon on Wednesday, killing eight Israeli soldiers and wounding 22.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Twenty-five militants were killed by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians in fighting across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including at least nine militants, three children and a handicapped man, medics and witnesses said.

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – More than 125 rockets fired by Hizbollah guerrillas slammed into