Beirut- French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended on Saturday his decision to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to a summit in Paris but called on Damascus to distance itself from Iran and its nuclear program.

Beirut- Prime Minister designate Fouad Siniora told reporters to expect good news early next week , after ending his meeting with Lebanese president Michel Suleiman at the Baabda presidential palace

Visa on arrival applies for all Indians, except for people coming in from Chennai. Anyway, if you get a visa in India itself, it works out cheaper, and what's more, you get a visa for multiple entries.

South African President Thabo Mbeki will visit Sudan next week for talks regarding peace and relations between the government in Khartoum and Southern former rebels, an official said Friday. Mbeki, chairman of the African Union's post-conflict and reconstruction committee for

Tens of thousands of Pakistani lawyers and activists began arriving in Islamabad Friday after a cross-country "long march" to demand the reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf. Flag-waving crowds chanting slogans against the US-backed leader gathered in the

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Friday negotiations with the US on a long-term security pact were deadlocked because of concern the deal infringes Iraqi sovereignty. "We have reached an impasse because when we opened these negotiations we did not

Israel said on Friday it expects a response next week to its conditions for a truce in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Among the conditions, Israel is insisting that not only Hamas but also the other militant groups operating in the Palestinian territory

Paris - US president George W. Bush said during a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris "we must show the people of Lebanon that they will have the lasting support of the free world."

Beirut- The focus continues to be on the formation of the cabinet by Designated Prime Minister Fouad Siniora , allocation of the sovereign portfolios based on the Doha accord and satisfying General Aoun who continues to insist on being allocated

Spain Friday handed over a Syrian arms dealer, Monzer al-Kassar, to US authorities, who suspect him of attempting to sell weapons to Colombian guerrillas, police said. The move came a week after Spain's government gave final approval to a US

Gunmen have killed a World Food Program (WFP) truck driver in Somalia, the third to be slain in the war-stricken Horn of Africa nation this year, the agency said Friday. "We strongly condemn this attack on personnel and trucks delivering

Pakistan on Friday launched a search for 16 Iranian security workers kidnapped by suspected militants near the border between the two countries, a government official said. An armed group captured the 16 workers at a border post in Iran Thursday

Egyptian authorities have deported around 200 asylum seekers to Eritrea where they risk torture and are preparing to expel another 1,400 currently held in detention, a rights group said on Friday. "The Egyptian authorities forcibly returned a group of around

Rebels in Chad said Friday they were pushing an offensive across the country and heading for the capital Ndjamena, after fighting broke out in the east with government forces. "We are advancing. We have passed Goz Beida," 700 kilometers from

Egyptian authorities on Friday refused to allow an Israeli truck carrying 32 tons of tiles into Egypt after high radiation levels were detected in the shipment, a security official said. "Egypt stopped the Israeli truck from entering Egypt ... because

Suspected Islamic extremists have gone on hunger strike in Mauritania to demand better detention conditions, the detainees and judicial officials said Thursday. In a letter seen by AFP and addressed to the media the 28 men, accused of being Islamic

Detainees at the US "war on terror" prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, won an important legal fight Thursday but the battle ahead is likely to go on until a political solution is found, experts say. By a vote of 5-4,

Two British troops and one Romanian soldier were killed after coming under fire in troubled southern Afghanistan, while a woman and several militants were killed in a US-led operation, officials said Friday. Separately a NATO military convoy survived a suicide

The UN Security Council should get tougher in its efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict, mediators said Thursday, warning of a worsening humanitarian and security situation on the ground. "We can't deal with the problem alone," said Jan Eliasson, UN

Two prominent US professors who caused an uproar with a best-selling book critical of the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington faced a raucous reception Thursday at one of Israel's most prestigious universities. About 200 students and faculty members crammed into