Afghan troops killed at least 34 Taliban in battle after militants ambushed an army convoy in the country's south Thursday, while 15 Taliban and seven policemen were killed elsewhere, officials said. Meanwhile, the Danish army also reported that two of

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir paraded as a man of peace on Thursday as he wrapped up a heavily protected tour of Darfur defying accusations that he masterminded genocide in the region. Wearing a safari suit, shades and a giant ring,

Iraq's three-member Presidency Council said on Thursday it had rejected a provincial election bill, a move widely expected to delay October polls which are strongly backed by Washington. "President [Jalal] Talabani, and his deputy Adel Abdel-Mehdi, have agreed that the

Al-Qaeda militants have vanished from the streets of Fallujah - their former bastion in west Iraq - but economic growth that could protect the city from their return has yet to materialize. The patience of local leaders in this Sunni

Police have arrested 26 Internet activists in the port of Alexandria, and 14 of them were jailed for more than two weeks for "threatening national security," a security official said on Thursday. Some 30 young Egyptians who belong to the

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said Thursday there should be no armed factions outside state control, in a direct reference to Hizbullah. Sfeir made the remark to members of the Journalists Union who visited him at his seat in suburban

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's media office dismissed on Monday rumors circulated by some media outlets claiming that the dossier of the Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails was being neglected. "Such claims are an untrue smear against the government and the

Former Premier Omar Karami on Wednesday night called on all political leaders to implement Article 95 of the Lebanese Constitution, which calls for the formation of a national council for the abolition of sectarianism in politics. "If I were the

A 1 million euro ($1.56 million) project to improve irrigation in the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek was launched Thursday by the Italian Embassy in Lebanon. Representatives from the embassy and Baalbek Municipality offered the aid, which was donated by

The Israeli army chief of staff has said in Washington that all options must be prepared to counter Iran's controversial nuclear program, in remarks relayed on Thursday. "We are all united over the understanding that Iran must not be allowed

Iranian Vice President Reza Aghazadeh said in Vienna on Thursday that negotiations with world powers on its nuclear program could be used to resolve wider Middle East problems from Lebanon to oil prices. "If the negotiations get under way, then

A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up and wounded 13 Algerian soldiers in an attack in Lakhdaria, 70 kilometers east of the capital Algiers, newspapers reported Thursday. The attacker reportedly slammed his motorbike laden with explosives into a

Israel was set to construct housing units on an occupied area in the Jordan Valley, a senior official said on Thursday, in defiance of Palestinian and international calls to freeze such activity. Any decision to confiscate Arab land for Israeli

Two detained members of the opposition who signed the Damascus Declaration demanding democratic and radical change in Syria were released on Thursday, a human rights group said. Mahmoud Najjar, arrested in the northern town of Aleppo last month, and literature

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Country member Libya said Thursday it will halt fuel supplies to key oil client Switzerland in the latest reprisal for last week's brief detention in Geneva of a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The General

Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq overnight - the latest in a series of air raids in the region since mid-December - the military said Thursday. The "intensive" strike targeted Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) hideouts in the

Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) General Claudio Graziano said Thursday his troops and himself believed that lasting peace in Southern Lebanon was possible. Graziano stressed the dedication of the UNIFIL troops in pursuing their mission,

Debate over the future of Hizbullah's weapons hindered a seventh effort on Thursday to draft a ministerial statement for the new national unity government. Following a meting headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the Grand Serail of a committee