BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanon’s new government, which includes a member of the Hizbollah movement, faces the tough tasks of uniting disparate factions, patching up ties with Syria and revitalising the economy. Prime minister-designate Fuad Siniora unveiled Tuesday a 24-member Cabinet, in which the energy portfolio was given to Mohammed Fneish, …

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas said it wanted to draw a line under a bout of internal Palestinian clashes Wednesday after its members attacked the homes of a security chief and the Gaza leader of the governing Fateh faction. At least seven people were injured in the exchanges of fire …

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq said Wednesday its post-Saddam constitution would be ready within two weeks despite sustained rebel attacks that saw the killing of two Sunni members of the charter’s drafting committee. Another 15 people lost their lives on Wednesday, including eight killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up …

GAZA CITY — Israel assassinated a Hamas leader in southern Gaza yesterday amid fears that a full-scale invasion of the Strip was back on the cards. Rockets were also fired at a car in northern Gaza, and six Israelis were injured by Palestinian mortar fire at Israeli targets in and …

RAMALLAH — Islamic group Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas are treading an all-out collision course that could move from rhetoric to the battlefield, Palestinian analysts warn. An informal truce brokered by Abbas and the main armed factions last March is unravelling amid esclating violence, putting mounting Israeli pressure on …

RIYADH — For outsiders, the ban on women’s driving in Saudi Arabia is perhaps the most powerful symbol of the restrictions they suffer, and ending it may seem like it should be a priority in their struggle for rights. But many women in the highly conservative kingdom say they have …

BAGHDAD — From his poor farm community on the outskirts of Baghdad, Hassan Melhan could feel the heat rising. Dozens of fellow Shiites in other villages had been frightened out by threats from Sunni militants, and he had heard some had even been killed. When traveling to Shiite holy places …

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police boosted security at popular resorts on the Aegean Coast and detectives arrived in the beach town of Kusadasi to investigate a minibus bombing that killed five people, including a British and an Irish tourist, officials said Sunday. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, …

CAIRO (AFP) — Scotland Yard investigators were in Cairo Sunday attempting to determine whether or not an Egyptian biochemist detained earlier this week was the bomb-maker behind the deadly July 7 London attacks. “Anti-terrorist experts from Britain are at work to follow the investigation but not take part in the …

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran promised Sunday it would help curb raging violence in Iraq, saying it has been cracking down on Al Qaeda militants on its soil — with arrests as recent as last week — and agreeing on closer security cooperation with Iraq’s visiting Shiite prime minister. Iraq’s Ibrahim …