TRIPOLI (AP) — A thaw in US-Libyan relations was well under way, Libyan newspapers reported Sunday, after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met her Libyan counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a groundbreaking, secret meeting 10 days ago with a senior Saudi Arabian official, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported Monday.

BiH holds general elections 01/10/2006 SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) — People across BiH headed for the polls on Sunday (1 October) for the country’s fifth general election since splitting from the former Yugoslavia. Polls showed that three parties — the opposition Social Democrats, the centrist Party for Bosnia and …

EL-FASHER, Sudan — Sudan and Western nations must be flexible enough to find a formula that will allow the United Nations to help improve security in Darfur, the head of the European Union’s executive body said on Sunday.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — While archfoes Israel and Iran step up tough rhetoric against one another, short-waves and a wood-panelled radio studio in Jerusalem offer the two peoples a rare bridge for communication.

CAIRO — Egypt’s announcement last week that it was relaunching its civil nuclear energy programme after a 20-year freeze prompted a frenzy of government announcements about the need for nuclear energy.

BEIRUT — As Lebanon turns another page in its turbulent history, with Israeli firepower giving way to peacekeepers from around the world, the summer war has left young Beirutis seeking an exit strategy of their own.

NABATIYAH — From a hospital bed, 14-year-old Hassan tells how half his foot was blasted away by one of the million bomblets that Israel rained on south Lebanon during its war with Hizbollah.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Qatar’s UN ambassador said a panel of experts had recommended that the Security Council impose sanctions on top Sudanese officials for violating peace efforts in Darfur, and strongly suggested that President Omar Bashir was among them.

BAQUBA — As the death squads’ grim threats began to mount against Shiite families in the Mafraq neighbourhood of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, fewer and fewer people attended their local prayer hall. Soon, the only members of the embattled Shiite community to brave the narrow streets of this religiously-mixed quarter …