Hizbollah fighters fought fierce battles with Israeli troops across a broad front in Lebanon’s south Tuesday, hours after the government in Israel ordered its army to punch all the way to the Litani River and hold the ground until an international peacekeeping force comes ashore.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Not wanting to end its three-week blitz on Lebanon empty-handed, Israel scrambled to clear Hizbollah fighters from a large strip of the south Tuesday before a ceasefire is announced.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings and shootings killed at least 70 people Tuesday — including a US and a British soldier — in a surge of violence as US troops prepare to take back Baghdad’s streets from the gunmen. The dead included 20 Iraqi troops killed in a bus attack in …