RAMALLAH — Talks on a Palestinian unity government will continue today in Gaza, after the Damascus meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal ended inconclusively but on a positive note.

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese to take part in an anti-government strike on Tuesday to topple leaders who he said wanted to take the country to civil war.

AMMAN (JT) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was to arrive here last night for talks with King Abdullah and senior officials on bilateral ties, Mideast developments and issues of concern to the Muslim world.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Boosted by the resignation of the army chief of staff over the failures of last summer’s conflict with Hizbollah, the fledgling Israeli protest movement over the war has turned to new weapons — cartoons and song.

ERBIL — A Christian shopkeeper who walks with a limp, Adison Brikha fled Baghdad after he was beaten in his shop. He made it to Erbil, in relatively peaceful Iraqi Kurdistan — but now he’s begging for work.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The European Union threatened Sudan with sanctions on Monday if it refused to allow UN peacekeepers into war-torn Darfur, but rights groups and analysts said the warning was not enough to stop the killings.

NAIROBI (Reuters) — Somali Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was under guard in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday after being taken into custody on the Somali border, Western diplomats and intelligence officials said.

Since the famous Orange Revolution of the end of 2004 in Ukraine, this country is living through a permanent political crisis, which is deepened by deteriorating relations with Russia and

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale and a strong explosion jolted Mashhad, northeastern Iran on Sunday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Belarusian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev voiced his country’s preparedness to promote mutual defense ties with the Islamic Republic, stressing Iran’s significant role and standing in regional and global equations.