Turkey’s army has boosted troop levels in the restive southeast to more than 200,000, most of them stationed along the border with Iraq, security sources told Reuters on Friday.

Hamas yesterday rejected as “unconstitutional” the government sworn in by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Friday. The Islamist movement wants to convene parliament to vote on the government, but Abbas’ Fateh faction has already said it will not attend any such session.

Rival Lebanese politicians met at a state-owned chateau near Paris on Saturday in a French-sponsored attempt to discuss ways of ending the eight-month-old political crisis gripping their country.