The Lebanese army intensified its shelling Saturday of Islamists fiercely defending their last patch of a Palestinian refugee camp as the death toll on both sides mounts.

Turkish leaders wrapped up their campaigns Saturday in early legislative elections with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tipped to retain power after a political crisis that polarised the country.

The leaders of two important Darfur rebel factions have set difficult conditions for attending a UN-African Union meeting in August in Tanzania to plan for future peace talks.

The US military could take a hint from the advertising world when it comes to building a better image in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study for the Pentagon released this week.

US and Iraqi troops raided a prominent Baghdad Sunni mosque complex and detained 18 suspects on Saturday, while a bomb aboard a minibus in the capital killed five people.

New Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections could be organised in less than 90 days but may not be possible any time soon without Hamas’ consent, officials involved in election planning said Saturday.

King Abdullah will meet US President George W. Bush at White House on Tuesday for talks on a new US push to revive the Middle East peace process.

According to sources from Ingushetia, in previous evening in the capital of Magas, a motorcade with President Zyazikov came under fire. The convoy was attacked from machine-guns and grenade launchers.

The administration of the President of CRI has distributed the decree of the head of Chechen state, Dokka Umarov on appointing of the Military Amir of CRI Armed Forces and also three of his deputies.

THE senior British official was unequivocal. The murder of the former KGB man Alexander Litvinenko was “undeniably state-sponsored terrorism on Moscow’s part. That is the view at the highest levels of the British government”.