JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces shot and wounded an armed man who crossed from Syria into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, the army said. Violence along the Israeli-Syrian border is rare and the army said the incident was reported to United Nations forces in the area.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) – At least 15 people including nine soldiers were killed in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to security sources, in the deadliest attack on the army since a battle with al Qaeda-inspired militants last year.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO has barred a Russian ship from joining its multinational anti-terrorism patrol in the Mediterranean in apparent retaliation for Moscow’s military action against Georgia, a NATO diplomat said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday welcomed as a “very good first step” Syria’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon at an ambassadorial level.

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least nine militants were killed in a missile strike on their training camp in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region, near the Afghan border, security officials and residents said on Wednesday.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman agreed on Wednesday to establish diplomatic relations between their countries at ambassadorial level, a Syrian official said.

KABUL (Reuters) – Suspected Taliban insurgents killed three female aid workers and their Afghan driver in an ambush on Wednesday, officials said, the bloodiest single attack on foreign humanitarian workers in Afghanistan in recent years.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran’s OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi declared on Wednesday OPEC should drop outputs if global demands keep on declining.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the time has reached for a review of Iran and Africa’s potentials to open a new chapter of cooperation.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran is against any crisis in the world and will do its best to limit circumstances producing more crisis. The head of Iran’s parliament national security and foreign policy commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi made the remarks as meeting Czech Republic charge d’ affairs in Iran and discussing the US plan …