BAGHDAD – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to London on Saturday for what he said was a routine medical checkup, but an official in his office said it was treatment for exhaustion.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The top Palestinian security official said on Saturday his government was dismantling militant groups, including those connected to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Hamas Islamists called on Egypt on Saturday to open its shuttered border crossing with the Gaza Strip to let more than 2,000 Palestinians return to their Gaza homes from the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.