Italy is planning to build a motorway across Libya as part of compensation for colonial wrongs under a deal it is negotiating with Tripoli, the Libyan news agency Jana reported on Sunday.

Three demonstrators were shot and wounded on Sunday in a clash with Hamas police in Gaza during an event to mark the third anniversary of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death, medical sources said.

The Middle East has acquired immense strategic value as one of the determining fulcrums in the global balance of power due to its being the world’s largest known storehouse of low-cost energy supplies. The region’s geopolitical importance, the kaleidoscopic nature of politics among its states, the presence of volatile social …