BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union was in disarray on Tuesday over Russia’s widely criticized parliamentary election after French President Nicolas Sarkozy telephoned President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him.

TULKARM, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government stepped up a Western-backed crackdown on gunmen on Tuesday by deploying hundreds of security officers in the West Bank city of Tulkarm.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on Tuesday for a U.S.-backed campaign to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions to continue despite a U.S. intelligence report that said Tehran had frozen its weapons program.