MOGADISHU (AP) — The international community is willing to help Somalia as long as there is “progress on the ground”, the United Nations’ political chief said during a four-hour trip to the Somali capital.

BEIRUT — The people of Beirut have turned to private security contractors using sniffer dogs, surveillance cameras and explosives detectors as government forces fail to prevent repeated bomb attacks.

CAIRO (Reuters) — A 10-year-old Egyptian girl who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus died on Saturday, bringing the number of fatalities from the disease in the most populous Arab country to 15, the health ministry said.

TEHRAN (AP) — The death toll from Cyclone Gonu rose to 70 Saturday when Iranian state media reported nine new deaths from the storm.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq accused Turkey of “intensively shelling” part of its northern Kurdish region this week and handed Ankara’s envoy a protest letter on Saturday which warned such actions could harm relations.

GAZA CITY (AP) — Palestinian fighters broke through Israel’s heavily fortified Gaza border and battled troops inside Israel for about two hours Saturday, in an abortive attempt to abduct an Israeli soldier in which one of the raiders was killed but the military said no soldiers were harmed.

NAHR BARED (Reuters) — Five Lebanese soldiers were killed on Saturday in the latest bout of heavy fighting against Al Qaeda-inspired gunmen entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp, a military source said.

Iran has brushed aside warnings by G8 leaders that it would face further UN sanctions if it failed to halt uranium enrichment work.

By JAMES CALDERWOOD, Associated Press Afghanistan and Pakistan are nearing agreement on the return of the more than 2 million refugees who fled to Pakistan a quarter century ago, a U.N. refugee agency official said Friday.

KABUL (Reuters) – A  NATO soldier was killed on Saturday in combat in southern Afghanistan as the alliance launched an air strike against leaders of the country’s Taliban insurgency, a NATO statement said.