TEL AVIV — Aghast at the destruction that ensued as Israel’s army and Hizbollah fighters waged war in Lebanon this year, Israeli David Sasson felt compelled to try to make contact with the Lebanese side.

GAZA — Fear of an escalating power struggle between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas added to the gloom on Monday for Palestinians marking a Muslim holiday that would normally be a festival of joy.

RAMALLAH — Last May Adel Samarra’s wife of 31 years left the West Bank to go to Jordan to renew her Israeli visa for the 126th time. On the 125 previous occasions the process had gone off without a hitch for the US passport holder, but five months ago Samarra’s …

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Many US and EU officials and political analysts believe that Iran-West nuclear standoff is not solved because of the United States’ wrong policies and approach towards the issue and the resulted pressures that Washington exerts on the European capitals to obey its policy towards Iran.

TERHAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian MP stressed that in case the UN Security Council embarks on imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Tehran will consequently ban entry of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into Iran.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A local official in Iran’s Eastern Azarbaijan province said that Iraq has been the destination of 22% of his province’s non-oil exports in the last 6 months.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Key European states on Tuesday circulated their own draft resolution imposing nuclear and missile-related sanctions on Iran after failing to reach agreement with Washington, U.S. and European officials said.

Macedonia, Croatia to step up economic co-operation 25/10/2006 SKOPJE, Macedonia — President Branko Crvenkovski and his visiting Croatian counterpart, Stipe Mesic, vowed Tuesday (October 24th) to step up bilateral economic co-operation. The two heads of state signed a joint statement defining the basic principles of co-operation and pledging to contribute …

Appointing a new army chief of staff last month, Romanian President Traian Basescu pledged to keep the military far from politics. “Not for a single moment will I tolerate any political involvement by the army,” he said during the ceremony to invest Rear Admiral Gheorghe Marin as the new chief …

Press freedom has improved in many parts of Southeast Europe (SEE) over the last 12 months, according to a new survey released on Tuesday (October 24th). However, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is the only country in the region ranking among the top 20 nations in the world on this issue.