UNITED NATIONS — US Ambassador John Bolton has pushed President George W. Bush’s global agenda with a lawyer’s drive during his 16 months at the United Nations — not a diplomat’s finesse which has upset some ambassadors and UN officials.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army killed a Palestinian and arrested 17 fighters Monday in raids across the West Bank, despite a decision by the military to scale back such operations in order to bolster a shaky truce with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon’s army deployed more soldiers in Beirut on Monday after the killing of a pro-Syrian Shiite demonstrator raised fears anti-government protests could turn into sectarian violence.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The genocide trial of Saddam Hussein heard its penultimate witness Monday in a sign it will soon concentrate on documents allegedly linking former Iraqi authorities to the 1988 massacres of Kurds.

WASHINGTON — After a five-year Republican lock on power, the quagmire in Iraq handed US President George W. Bush a Democrat-controlled Congress in late 2006, which is likely to make his last two years in the White House tough ones.

CAIRO — Mohammad Gad walks barefoot through the muddy tannery, seemingly not bothered by the acrid odours of chemicals and the stink of unprocessed skins.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned Swiss charge d’affaires in Tehran to reflect the Islamic Republic’s strong protest at the savage behavior of the US police towards an Iranian student of California University.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Gambian counterpart, President Yahya Jammeh, here on Saturday called for further expansion of ties between the two states.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Iran attaches special significance to the development of relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived here Saturday morning after a day-long visit to Qatar.