GAZA (Reuters) – Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict. Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Many voices around the world speak up for the Palestinians, but few in the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers in Washington routinely pass nonbinding resolutions supporting Israel during Middle East crises. The Senate has backed Israel’s ongoing battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and the House of …

KABUL (Reuters) – Two U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in a market in southern Afghanistan, NATO said Friday, adding the Taliban had claimed responsibility. The attack happened Thursday beside a busy market in the Maywand district of Kandahar province and a district police chief told …

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – In an apparent reversal of earlier promises to Arab states, the United States on Thursday abstained from voting on a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the decision to abstain was because the United States first …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani conferred with head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Wednesday over the latest conditions in the Gaza Strip. The meeting was also attended by several high level officials from Hamas at the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital. The meeting …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran asked Japan to play a larger role in opposing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone held talks by telephone at Tehran’s request, the Japanese foreign ministry said. “Foreign Minister Mottaki said Iran expects Japan to play …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held a meeting on Wednesday with visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on the situation in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting, the two officials discussed “efforts and actions that must be taken by Arab and Islamic countries to stop the Israeli aggression on …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli forces have arrested Iran’s Al-Alam News Network’s correspondent reporting from the occupied Palestinian territory. The man’s lawyer said the Palestinian was also suspected of passing confidential information to unauthorized persons – “a very harsh security offense” – but gave no further details. Khadr Shahine, who reported for …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Pakistani police have arrested four foreigners near Pakistan’s border with Iran on suspicion of links with international terrorists, sources said on Wednesday. According to the sources, Panjgur Police believed the four men were members of Al Qaeda who entered Pakistan via Afghanistan and were planning to go to …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz met on Wednesday, in Havana, with Ali Akbar Mehrabian, Iranian President’s special envoy and Minister of Mines and Industries. The Iranian official brought a salutation message for the Cuban Head of State and Revolution leader Fidel Castro on behalf Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. …