JT with AFP dispatches ISRAELI DEPUTY PRIME Minister Shimon Peres on Sunday urged Arab countries to hold talks with the Jewish state on the peace initiative they reendorsed in March.

GAZA (Reuters) — Israel escalated its strikes against Gaza fighters on Sunday, killing eight Palestinians in an aerial assault that struck the home of a promiment Hamas politician, medics and a source in the Islamist group said.

TRIPOLI (AFP) — Fierce gunbattles raged in Lebanon on Sunday between soldiers and shadowy Islamist fighters accused of links to Al Qaeda, leaving 40 dead in the bloodiest such clashes in seven years. Lebanese troops staged a broad daylight assault on a building in Tripoli where fighters from Fateh Al …