Middle Orient

GAZA CITY (AP) — Hamas said Saturday it would double the size of its paramilitary force in Gaza, defying President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to outlaw the unit and raising the stakes in an increasingly bloody power struggle between the two rivals.

BAGHDAD (AP) — In the opening battle of a major new drive to tame the violent capital, the Iraqi army reported it killed 30 gunmen Saturday night in a firefight in a Sunni insurgent stronghold in the centre of the city, just to the north of the heavily fortified Green …

WASHINGTON (AP) — President George W. Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq is already running into trouble on Capitol Hill, with Republicans joining Democrats in raising eyebrows before the president even makes his case.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced increased criticism and plummeting polls Friday after returning empty-handed from a summit with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as debate rages over sending more US troops to Iraq, there are differing views about whether economic incentives such as micro-loans and US-funded jobs programmes would coax fighters to trade guns for tools.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Israeli undercover troops burst into a West Bank vegetable market Thursday afternoon, seized four men and exchanged heavy fire with Palestinian fighers in the first major raid since the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to try to ease tensions between the sides.

SHARM EL SHEIKH (AP) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak firmly condemned Israel’s raid into the West Bank on Thursday as he met with Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert in a summit aimed reviving the long-stalled peace process.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq postponed executing two of Saddam Hussein’s henchmen Thursday amid international pressure following the ousted leader’s bungled and much criticised hanging.

Speaker of the House-elect Nancy Pelosi blows a kiss Thursday while receiving applause after being nominated for the post  at a swearing in ceremony for the 110th Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A year after Ariel Sharon’s stroke abruptly propelled him into the prime minister’s seat, Ehud Olmert finds himself badly out of favour and under a darkening cloud of scandal.