WASHINGTON — With warm words but few solid promises from President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has tough negotiating ahead to work out deals on boosting Africa’s poor and tackling climate change in time for next month’s summit of rich countries in Scotland. Bush inched towards Blair’s …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel yesterday launched an air strike against what its army said were three Hamas members who fired mortars at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip in a second day of increasing tension. On Tuesday, two Palestinian farmers and one Chinese labourer were killed by Palestinian mortar fire …

DAMASCUS — Spurred by the Kurds’ political advance in Iraq, the Kurdish minority in Syria is hoping the Baath Party congress in Damascus will help resolve their problems, which have been compounded by the recent murder of one of their leaders. In Iraq, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani has been elected …