Lebanese troops on Saturday set up checkpoints and searched cars going in and out of a Palestinian refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli where a militant group blamed for last month’s deadly bus bombings is based, camp residents and military officials said.

Masked gunmen fired on a UN convoy yesterday on Gaza’s main north-south highway after trying to kidnap a high ranking official from one of the vehicles.

In Iran 300 has triggered bewilderment and anger. Just off Tehran’s central Haft-e Tir Square, customers cram into a shop selling bootleg DVDs to flip through pirated action and art-house films while an employee keeps a lookout on the street for approaching police.