After two failed attempts, Romania’s Democratic Party (PD) filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s minority government on Monday (June 4th), while Macedonia’s main opposition party made a similar move on Tuesday, in a bid to topple the ruling conservatives.

ANKARA (Reuters) — Turkey denied a report on Wednesday it had launched a major incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels, but a military source said troops had conducted a limited raid across the mountainous border.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister visisted Mogadishu and promised that if peace were consolidated in Somalia, he would withdraw troops sent to help the government put down an Islamic insurgency.

AIN AL HILWEH CAMP (AP) — A Palestinian security force fanned out in two neighbourhoods of this refugee camp in southern Lebanon Wednesday to prevent a renewal of clashes between Islamists and Lebanese troops that have so far claimed three lives.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) — Republican candidates for US president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop nuclear weapons, even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop Tehran, and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought to calm speculation in Israel that war with Syria could erupt soon, saying on Wednesday he wanted peace with Damascus and to avoid any miscalculations that could lead to hostilities.

NAHR BARED (AFP) — Lebanon laid terror charges against Al Qaeda inspired gunmen Wednesday as sporadic gunbattles flared between the Islamists and the army on the 18th day of a deadly standoff.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Cyclone Gonu, the worst tropical storm to hit the Gulf in decades, made landfall in Iran on Wednesday afternoon, packing winds of 200 kilometres an hour and   forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, officials said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and Israel said after high-level talks here Wednesday that the time might not be ripe for the Jewish state to resume peace talks with arch-rival Syria.