Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged the people of Gaza to oust his Islamist rivals who seized control of the territory in June, as he seeks a lasting peace with Israel.

 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will announce a freeze in West Bank settlement expansion as a gesture towards the Palestinians at a US peace meeting this month, a senior official said Thursday.

US forces said they had killed 25 suspected insurgents in operations targeting Al Qaeda fighters near the capital, but Sunni Arab tribal leaders accused them on Thursday of pro-US fighters.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called on Lebanese leaders to hold a presidential election on time next week and said the successor to the pro-Syrian incumbent should enjoy broad support.

A Somali Islamist commander, thought to be Al Qaeda’s man in Mogadishu, has ordered his fighters to attack African Union (AU) peacekeepers in rare taped comments intended to bolster an anti-government insurgency.

Lebanon’s powerful Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has been thrust to the forefront of a bitter struggle between pro- and anti-Syrian political camps as a line for a presidential election looms.

Syrian archaelogists have uncovered a 2nd century necropolis and statues in the central town of Palmyra, along with several skeletons, museum director Walid Assaad told AFP on Thursday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is scheduled to pay a several-hour visit to Tehran following his attendance in the upcoming summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early next week.

The Moroccan Foreign Trade Minister discussed future trade and business cooperation with Iranian Commerce Minister Massoud Mir Kazemi on Thursday.

Iran’s new Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari blamed misunderstanding for the fall of the $22 billion deal to export five million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India.