WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is trying to hold off international pressure for an immediate halt to the Israeli assault in southern Lebanon, apparently to allow Israel a short window to do as much damage as possible.

ISRAELI AIR STRIKES on Lebanon killed 61 civilians and a Hizbollah fighter on Wednesday, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated.

BAQOUBA — An Iraqi army commander tells his men that he might forgive them if they were to place a bomb outside his door but never if they succumbed to the sectarian divisions ripping the country apart.