TANKS, BULLDOZERS AND armoured personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barrelled over the border Saturday as Israeli forces stepped up a small-scale ground offensive into southern Lebanon to try to attack the Hizbollah group.

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush’s uncompromising support for Israel in its battle with Hizbollah, a stance now backed by Congress, is threatening to isolate the United States even further from the international community.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi leaders met in a show of sectarian and ethnic solidarity on Saturday before a White House visit by the prime minister