RAMALLAH — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was due to meet exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal in Damascus last night amid hopes that the months-long negotiations over a unity government might finally be nearing resolution.

CAIRO — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a deal with Arab leaders this week: Washington will show an interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arabs will say they support the new US strategy for Iraq.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Somalia’s fledgling government received a boost Saturday when the last major warlord turned over his weapons and militia, but it faced a renewed threat from Islamists, who took credit for a string of attacks and promised to continue fighting until the government agrees to talks.

BEIRUT (AFP) — The Lebanese opposition called Saturday for a one-day general strike, stepping up a protest campaign to bring down the Western-backed government that has paralysed the nation’s leadership for weeks.

CAIRO (AFP) — An Egyptian woman died from bird flu overnight, bringing to 11 the number of people in the country to have succumbed to the disease, the heath ministry said Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — US contingency planning for military action against Iran’s nuclear programme goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former US intelligence analyst said on Friday.

REVIEW TOPICS: High alert for possible terrorist attacks lifted in Russia Litvinenko was murdered by a killer with three false passports Russian President’s aide says murders are a plot against Putin Trial of US counterintelligence officer charged with killing Russian begins in Khabarovsk 

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said that the Iranian nation and government will stand up to foreign threats with solidarity.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Two earthquakes measuring 4.4 and 4 on the Richter scale jolted Haft-gol and Bagh Malek in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Imami Kashani said here today that the Iranian nation will respond and defuse the United States’ plots aimed at sowing discord between Muslim Shiites and Sunnites.