JERUSALEM, Oct. 29 – The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is expected to last until after Israel’s upcoming early general election in mid-February, local news service Ynet reported Wednesday.

WAM, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani rescuers pulled 160 bodies from the rubble of hundreds of mud-walled homes flattened by a powerful earthquake in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, government officials said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday ratified treaties with the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia that will allow Moscow to station thousands of troops there.