Israeli warplanes have bombed many targets in the besieged Gaza Strip, damaging several buildings and injuring two Palestinians.

Sixteen Israeli warplanes have attacked the coastal strip a few hours before midnight on Thursday, firing at least one rocket into a security compound west of Gaza City, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Pastor Terry Jones has decided to cancel his plan to burn the holy Quran at his Florida-based church, a plan which had drawn fierce international criticism.

Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center church announced on Thursday that "we have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday," ABC reported.

The United States President Barack Obama approves of the crippling blockade Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip under the pretext of security.

During a Tuesday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama said the regional situation was "unsustainable" and called for a narrow blockade on the impoverished coastal sliver, the Associated Press reported.

Pakistani female scientist Aafia Siddiqui, accused of shooting US service members, will receive her sentence at a New York court by the end of September.

Media report say that Siddiqui will receive her sentence in a hearing at a Pearl Street court in Manhattan presided over by Judge Berman on September 23rd, 2010.

Coinciding with Eid al-Fitr, Tehran will release one of the three Americans detained in the southwestern Iran over illegally entering the country.

"Given that Eid al-Fitr is upon us, it was decided that this lady (Sarah Emily Shourd) be released soon to rejoin with her family," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Press TV early on Friday.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) warns against any instance of "Israeli extremism" during direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

PA resumed the negotiations on September 2, having left the process at the turn of 2009 in protest at Israeli offensives which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

US President Barack Obama has reproached a church's plan to burn copies of the Muslim holy book, Quran, and branded the plan as destructive and dangerous.

"If he [Terry Jones] is listening, I hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance," Obama said in an interview broadcast Thursday on ABC's Good Morning America program.

Battleground potentials of the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, will be a major challenge for Israeli Army in any new attack on Lebanon, a senior Israeli commander says.

Major General Sami Turgeman said on Thursday that the movement poses a "military challenge" to the forces, the Lebanese news portal Naharnet reported.

Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement is demanding the arrest of the masterminds of fake witnesses in the case of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination.

"It is required to open the case file of the false witnesses so that there will be no distractions," prominent Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in his remarks published on Thursday.

China has opposed unilateral sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, calling for a diplomatic solution on the issue.

"We don't approve of unilateral sanctions on Iran," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters on Thursday.

A federal appeals court in the US has dismissed a lawsuit against a controversial CIA program that flew alleged terror suspects to secret prisons.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals cited national security risks when it finally threw out the case in a 6-5 ruling on Wednesday.

An Iranian lawmaker denounces the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear program as vague and influenced by western powers.

The IAEA has issued a vague, dubious report about Iran's peaceful nuclear activities, First Vice Speaker of the Majlis (Iran's national legislative body) Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, said on Wednesday.

A senior Iranian lawmaker downplays Israeli threats of an attack on Iran, saying the Islamic Republic has the potential to target various Israeli sites.

"In case of any potential attack by the Zionist regime [Israel] on Iran's Bushehr power plant, the country can target different sites of the regime," Fars news agency quoted Vice-Speaker of the Majlis, Shahabeddin Sadr, as saying on Wednesday.

A new study warns US President Barack Obama of Washington's defeat in Afghanistan, calling on the United States to adopt a plan B for the nine-year war.

"What we have been doing for several years is not just failing but counterproductive," said Matthew Hoh, the director of the Afghanistan Study Group.

Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement is demanding the arrest of the masterminds of fake witnesses in the case of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination.

"It is required to open the case file of the false witnesses so that there will be no distractions," prominent Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in his remarks published on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed concerns that Mexico's powerful drug cartels are turning into an insurgency force, challenging government's control over its territory.

"These drug cartels are showing more and more indices of insurgencies. It's looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, when the narco-traffickers controlled certain parts of the country," Clinton said in Washington on Wednesday, Los Angeles Times reported.

A senior Iranian nuclear official insists that latest demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Iran are beyond the country's nuclear commitments.

“Demands and expectations from Iran presented in IAEA Director General Yukia Amano's new report are outside Iran's commitments to the NPT,” Iranian Ambassador to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh told IRNA after an IAEA briefing on Wednesday.

Lebanon has cautioned about new cross-border tension with Israel and clashes in Palestinian refugee camps in the aftermath of talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

"These talks will no doubt cover (Palestinian) refugees, water and oil in the region," Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said in a statement on Wednesday.

A dozen American soldiers have been charged with alleged killing of innocent Afghan civilians as a sport and collecting their fingers as trophies.

At least twelve US soldiers were accused of forming a secret "kill team" that shot and blew up civilians at random.

At least 10 civilians have been killed and four others wounded after a roadside bomb exploded in a remote tribal town of northwest Pakistan.

The blast took place in the Palaseen village of the Kurram region, deputy administrator of the region, Hamid Khan, told Reuters on Thursday.

At least four people have been killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a fresh wave of bombing and mortar attacks in northern Iraq.

A bomb exploded near al-Zab police station in southwestern Kirkuk -- about 250 kilometers north of Baghdad -- on Wednesday morning, wounding one civilian and two policemen, Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.

A week after the talks in Washington, a senior negotiator of Palestinian Authority (PA) says it will not recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.”

Acting PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held direct talks on Sept. 2, after a stalemate of nearly two years.

A human rights group voices serious concern over Israel's conviction of a Palestinian activist protesting against confiscation of his village's land in the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday that the conviction of Abdullah Abu Rahme, 39, is the unjust result of an unfair trial.

China has urged Western countries to avoid broadening Iran sanctions by imposing new unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

"China believes that countries should comprehensively and correctly implement the UN sanctions instead of expanding on these sanctions," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference on Tuesday.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen hopes the US-led troops would begin handing over Afghanistan's security to Afghan forces sometime next year.

"I hope that by November we will be in a position to make announcements as to where transition can start in broad terms at least," said Rasmussen during his visit to Washington.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claims against Iran are made under US pressure.

“The IAEA chief presses claims against our country under pressure from the US government while refusing to provide us with any evidence. Therefore, such comments are merely political rhetoric and lack legality,” President Ahmadinejad said in an interview with the Netherlands' Nova TV released on Wednesday.

Hamas has severely criticized the Palestinian Authority for arresting members of the resistance movement, accusing PA of "treason" and close collaboration with Israel.

Over the past days, PA security forces have arrested a number of Hamas members, accusing them of being involved in the death of four Israelis in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) last week.

Three US drone attacks on a single day have killed at least 18 people, injured several others in Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan.

Pakistani security officials say the latest attack has killed four people, adding that 14 others had been killed in the other two US drone attacks in the same volatile tribal district.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron will be grilled over a phone-hacking row that has rocked the country's coalition government.

The Prime Minister will answer questions about the explosive issue at the Commons when it convenes for the first time since Parliament returned from its summer break.

The UK government military advisors have published a blueprint for pulling British troops out of Afghanistan.

In its four point plan, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) suggested that Britain should commit itself to a more low key policy of “containment and deterrence” in Afghanistan, the daily Standard reported on Wednesday.

Iran cites political motives behind the Western propaganda campaign regarding the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman convicted of adultery and murder.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Wednesday that the Western media were using Ashtiani's case to achieve political objectives.

Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro has urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop slandering the Jews, according to an article published on the U.S. website The Atlantic on Tuesday.

The ageing revolutionary devoted much of a five-hour conversation to the issue of anti-Semitism, wrote Jeffrey Goldberg, who interviewed Castro in the Cuban capital Havana.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected rumors about the resignation of his Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as psychological war and propaganda.

Following the circulation of rumors about Mottaki tendering his resignation in some foreign media outlets, Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that "Mr. Mottaki will continue his work…and he attended the cabinet meeting today."

Despite massive protests against government austerity measures, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will go on with his "essential" pension reform plans.

Millions of people have taken to the streets in different parts of France in recent days to protest at Sarkozy's new pension reform plan that envisages rising the retirement age from 60 to 62.

British rights activists have criticized Bahrain for arresting opposition leaders, accusing the kingdom of violating human rights and oppressing the opposition.

Bahrain's Sunni government arrested more than 20 Shia opposition leaders in August, accusing them of plotting a coup and inciting "violence, rioting and terrorism."

The death toll from a massive bomb attack on police headquarters in southwestern Pakistan has reached 21, including nine women and six children.

Police say the car bomb attack targeting a police station in Pakistan's northwestern city of Kohat took place on Tuesday. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 17 with nearly 20 injured.

Israeli army forces have arrested a number of Palestinian residents in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on charges of links with resistance movements.

Israeli soldiers raided different neighborhoods in al-Khalil late on Tuesday and arrested at least three people, Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency reported.

Iran will not implement additional protocol as long as the UN Security Council interferes in Iran's nuclear program, says Iran's ambassador to the IAEA.

On February 6, 2006, Iran's Majlis (parliament) suspended voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol and all other voluntary and non-legally binding cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) beyond what is required by its safeguards agreement.

At least ten people have been killed and five others wounded in a US drone attack in Pakistan's tribal region on the Afghan border, security officials say.

The US drone fired two missiles at a suspected militant compound of Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters on Wednesday, according to an AFP report .

A number of bombing attacks have rocked Baghdad, leaving at least three people killed and dozens more injured in the Iraqi capital.

An explosive-geared vehicle was detonated near a bus terminal in the south Baghdad neighborhood of Bayaa Wednesday morning, quickly followed by a roadside bomb, AFP reported.

Prominent Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has called for a blanket opposition boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt.

The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who is known as one of the major opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has accused the government of planning to rig the November elections, noting a massive boycott of the elections will force the ruling National Democratic Party to its knees.

A former American soldier has been charged with plotting to kill US President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton, officials say.

The charges were made public on Tuesday after police arrested Robert Anthony Quinones over a hostage situation at a military base in the US state of Georgia.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms that Iran's nuclear program has not diverted from the right track, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says.

"The Agency continues to report to the Board of Governors - over 20 times - that there is no diversion of the nuclear material," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Press TV in an exclusive interview late Tuesday.

A French periodical has revealed the location of a secret Israeli espionage center, which ranks among the world's largest and most significant.

The base, which intercepts information for the Israeli Spy Agency (Mossad) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), is placed near Kibbutz Urim not far from Beersheba, the largest city in the Negev desert, which is in the south of Israel, Israeli website Ynetnews said on Sunday, detailing the report by the monthly newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique.

A new study has revealed that the population of those living below the poverty line in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip exceeds the same population in Rwanda.

The survey, carried out by the Palestinian Authority (PA), shows that 63.1 percent of the 1.5-million Palestinians in the impoverished coastal sliver, where Tel Aviv's siege has prevented access to food, fuel and other necessities, live below the United Nations-defined poverty line, Press TV's correspondent in the enclave Akram al-Satarri reported on Tuesday.

Protestors have taken to the streets of Buenos Aires calling for the release of all political prisoners and demanding an end to pro-Israeli behavior.

Thousands of people gathered in Buenos Aires to demand the release of all political prisoners, specially that of Roberto Martino a civil rights leader who was detained during 2009 anti-Zionism protests, reported PressTV.

The US does not plan to contribute to the NATO request of 2000 more troops for the Afghan war explained the Pentagon on Tuesday.

A request was submitted by the NATO commander of Afghanistan last week, which alliance officials said called for another 2,000 soldiers, including 750 trainers.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to pay tribute to the Danish cartoonist who caused uproar in the Muslim world by drawing insulting cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

Merkel is scheduled to address a ceremony about freedom of press in Potsdam, near Berlin on Wednesday where she will give an award to Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, organizers of the event said in a statement on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran has a legal right to demand changes to the list of UN inspectors monitoring its nuclear program.

"One issue that some officials within the [International Atomic Energy] Agency may raise is over the designation of inspectors, which…we have the right to decide to replace or change inspectors based on their records," IRNA quoted Mehmanparast as saying on Tuesday.

Despite global outrage, a US pastor who plans burning the Muslim holy book of Quran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks says he will not abandon the move.

Terry Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville Florida, said on Tuesday that despite condemnations he and his church were determined to torch the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Just a week after the end of the US combat mission in Iraq, two American soldiers have been killed in northern Iraq, says a US army spokesman.

"There was an incident that resulted in casualties to US forces," Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Allen told AFP on Tuesday.

As Israel and the Palestinian Authority engage in a new US-led direct talks, Russia and France call on Tel Aviv not to resume settlement activities in the occupied territories.

Moscow and Paris expressed concern that the Israeli construction project would endanger the direct talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas in Washington.

Amid a western push for direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast doubts on the success of negotiations.

"It is not certain that it will succeed. Certainly there are many obstacles, many skeptics and many reasons to doubt," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday.

The coalition government creates a panel to review the 2003 Extradition Act, largely criticised for indiscriminately extraditing British citizens to the US.

The Act, which was passed after the 9/11 attacks, was drawn up by US authorities to help fight terrorism. It allows for the speedy extradition of suspects to the US without any requirements to provide evidence.

A top Iranian MP has censured the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for focusing on minor matters rather than regulatory issues in its latest report on Iran's nuclear program.

Matters of contention or ambiguous points in our cooperation with the IAEA are considered "minor issues" and highlighting them in the report lacks legal justification and flies in the face of the UN nuclear watchdog's regulations, said Chairman of Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi, quoted by IRNA on Tuesday.

An Austrian billionaire has reportedly paid 4.5 million dollars in bribes to the sons of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli police say.

Israel's national fraud squad said Martin Schlaff may be indicted on bribery charges for paying money to Gilad and Omri Sharon, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

China has reiterated the need for a negotiated solution to Iran's nuclear issue, saying that dialog is the only viable option in resolving the matter.

"We hope that related parties increase their diplomatic efforts and resume talks and negotiations as soon as possible to seek an effective route to a comprehensive, long-term and appropriate resolution to the Iran nuclear issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a news briefing in Beijing.

Indian security forces have imposed a strict curfew in Indian-administrated Kashmir after four protesters were shot dead by police in the volatile region.

The latest deaths, including that of a teenaged student, occurred on Monday when Indian forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the northern village of Palhalan.

Iran has characterized Israel as the source of all tensions and crises in the Middle East region, calling the Israeli regime as the "enemy" of all Muslims and regional states.

"The Israeli regime that is illegally continuing its atrocities in the region is the enemy of Islamic and regional countries," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

Iran says the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the country's nuclear work has been politically influenced.

"The agency should maintain its technical dignity defined within the NPT framework. It would be outside its legal duty ... if it deals with political matters and attends to external pressure on the agency," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

Egypt has expressed concern over Israel's insistence on being recognized as a "Jewish state," saying this would endanger the fate of Israel's Arab minority.

"Israel wants to call itself a Jewish or Hebrew state. This is worrying," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the al-Arabiya television network on Monday, Israel's Ynet news website reported.

An Israeli Arab MP has raised doubts on the outcome of direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel saying Tel Aviv's rightist stance remains unchanged.

"I don't see signs Benjamin Netanyahu has changed. Therefore, the expectation for a breakthrough in the peace process doesn't exist, at least for me," Deputy Israeli Parliament (Knesset) Speaker Ahmed Tibi said in an interview with Haaretz.

Amidst a gloomy economic backdrop, US President Barack Obama has unveiled a new infrastructure plan aimed at revamping the faltering American economy.

The six-year plan involves rebuilding aging roads, railways and airports with an initial $50 billion investment.

The main point of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report on Iran's nuclear activities is the verification of its non-diversion nature, Tehran's nuclear chief says.

"Like the previous [IAEA's] reports, the new report reiterates the non-diversion of declared nuclear material …. Therefore, we believe that the other issues mentioned in the report are minor," Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi told ISNA on Monday.

Turkey renews threat of severing its relations with Israel, should Tel Aviv fail to redeem itself over its bloody attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

On May 31, Israeli commandos stormed Freedom Flotilla, a Turkish-backed relief mission, while it was on its way to the impoverished enclave, which has been deprived of food, fuel and other necessities due to more than three years of an all-out Tel Aviv-imposed siege. The assault in international waters killed nine Turkish human rights activists.

The acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas says he would leave direct talks with Israel, should he be asked to backtrack on the Palestinian demands.

The direct negotiations began in Washington on September 2 after breaking off at the turn of 2009, when Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

Top US military commander in Afghanistan has denounced a Florida church's plans to burn Qurans on September 11, saying it would put the lives of American troops overseas in danger.

General David Petraeus said that the move will be used by the Taliban to boost their image and will drum up anger against US troops.

After Israel's bloody attack on a seaborne convoy which was heading to Gaza, a US-based body unveils plans to dispatch an aid-laden plane to the coastal sliver.

The Free Palestine Movement has envisioned sending a light aircraft to the Gaza Strip in the spring of the next year, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported on Sunday.

A senior Russian official has expressed concern about Washington's effort to hinder the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran over a fuel swap deal, a report says.

The Russian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he is concerned by the fact that the US has delayed the negotiation process aimed at resolving the standoff between the West and Iran over the country's nuclear activity, Reuters reported on Monday.

Commander of the US-led forces in Afghanistan wants 2,000 extra troops in the country as foreign soldiers are experiencing their deadliest year since the 2001 invasion.

General David Petraeus claims the extra troops are intended to mainly train Afghan security forces, a NATO official said on Monday.

Hundreds of Afghans have held an anti-US protest in Kabul to denounce a plan by a church in the US to burn Islam's holy book of Qur'an on the anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks.

Some members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and clerics addressed the crowd.

Israel and Russia have inked a long-term agreement to cooperate in the military sector in a bid to improve bilateral relations.

The deal was signed during a meeting between Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and his visiting Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak on Monday.

The international community will pay the price, should the new round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail, Jordan's King Abdullah II says.

The monarch said in a statement on Sunday that the failure of the negotiations would reflect negatively on all parties.

Two more protesters have been killed by security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir as violence continues to sweep the disputed Himalayan region.

A teenage student and a 40-year-old man were killed on Monday when Indian forces opened fire in an area in north of the state summer capital Srinagar.

A group of renowned British and American artists have put their weight behind efforts by Israeli actors to refrain from performing in the occupied West Bank.

More than 150 US actors, writers, and directors signed a letter drafted by an American organization known as the Jewish Voice for Peace.

The US-led talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel were to serve internal political consumption in the US prior to its upcoming midterm elections, an Iranian lawmaker says.

"When the United States and [other] arrogant Western powers fail to promote the continued existence of the Zionist regime through bullying and military measures, they resort to political arm-twisting and staging concession talks," said Member of Majlis (parliament) Nasser Sodani on Monday, quoted by IRNA.

The United States is on the brink of sliding down to a Third World country, as it struggles with massive debts, rising unemployment and a deteriorating economy.

Some of the warning signs that indicate America's fantastic fall from a First World nation include rising unemployment and poverty.

A top Iranian parliamentarian has called on the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not to be influenced by Washington's political pressures over Iran's nuclear activities.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran expects Yukiya Amano to act independently in handing over a report on Iran's nuclear issue,” Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Ala'eddin Broujerdi was quoted by econews.ir as saying on Monday.

Despite being under fire for joining the US to invade Iraq, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has advocated keeping an attack on Iran on the table.

Blair, speaking on ABC News's 'This Week' on Sunday said if he were still in power, he 'wouldn't take the risk' of allowing Iran to gain nuclear weapons, adding an attack has to be an option.

Analysts say the US withdrawal of its combat troops from Iraq and emphasis on training and advisory roles is aimed at disguising its continued military presence there.

US President Barack Obama in his September 1 speech formally declared an end to his country's combat operations in Iraq. Nearly 50,000 troops that are remaining in the country to advice and train Iraqi security forces are to leave by the end of 2011.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says his far right Yisrael Beitenu party will block any attempt to extend Tel Aviv's 10-month settlement freeze.

"There is no need to extend the freeze," Lieberman said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Monday, AFP reported.

A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) memo released by WikiLeaks last month has revealed Washington's long tradition of exporting terrorism abroad, supported by radical American Jews.

The memo, penned by a CIA group known as the "Red Cell" on February 5, warns that the US has long ignored "homegrown terrorism" exported overseas by Jewish extremist groups, a report published by alertnet.org said.

Prominent Palestinian figures condemn the Palestinian Authority (PA) spokesman's insulting remarks about the Iranian president, endorsing Iran's supports for the rights of Palestinians.

"The offensive remarks of Palestinian Authority Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the International Quds Day is indicative of the PA's irresponsibility and serious crisis between the negotiating team and the Israelis in direct talks," Fars news agency quoted Hamas political leader Khezr Habib as saying on Sunday.

US troops have engaged in a fire-fight in the capital Baghdad days after Washington officially announced an end to its combat operations in the country.

US forces fired on suspected militants that were believed to have entered an Iraqi military complex in the center of the capital city.

The Taliban have warned Afghans not to participate in Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary elections, saying they will attack polling stations.

"It is only to the benefit of foreigners who want to maintain their existence in the country by holding such a process and we believe that the people will not get any benefit out of it," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Sunday.

Bahrain has accused 23 Shia Muslim activists of forming a "terror network" aimed at toppling the Arabian Gulf state's government, the official BNA news agency says.

The agency, citing the charge sheet on Saturday, said the suspects allegedly held secret meetings in Bahrain and abroad in order "to change the political regime through illegal means".

This is the most recent interview with Khaled Mesh'al who, since 1996, has been the Chairman of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Political Bureau. After the assassination of Hamas leader Abdul ‘Aziz Rantisi in 2004, Mesh'al became the overall leader of the movement.

In this interview with the Jordanian Al-Sabeel newspaper in July 2010, Mesh'al lays out the policy direction of Hamas on a number of critical issues: negotiations with Israel, international relations, Jews, Christians, women, among other issues. The interview – which was conducted over many hours – has been received as significant in the Arab world and is regarded as a clear indication of positions that Hamas wants to pursue, especially with regard to future attitudes towards Israel.

Iranian president says the US is trying to wage a psychological war in the Middle East, noting that strengthening ties with Qatar can boost regional stability and ward off such threats.

"Widening the scope of cooperation between Iran and Qatar, with the two countries' officials remaining alert, can establish lasting security in the region and reduce threats from outside," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a meeting with senior officials in Doha on Sunday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman paints a grim picture of results of talks between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials.

"You have to understand that signing a comprehensive peace agreement is an unattainable goal - not next year and not in the next generation," Lieberman said at a conference of his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ruled out the likelihood of an attack on Iran, stressing that the US would have no reason for such a move.

"First of all, there is no reason or evidence to support a conflict with Iran," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Doha on Sunday. "Secondly, the US is incapable of taking action against Iran."

Coordinated attacks in the Iraqi capital have claimed the lives of 12 people, leaving 36 others injured, Baghdad's operations command has said.

The incident took place at the rear gate of Rusafa military command headquarters on unday

Two people have been reportedly killed as thousands take to the streets of Indian-administered Kashmir to protest Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.

Demonstrators on Sunday defied a curfew in the summer capital of Srinagar to protest the Indian-rule and the killings of civilians.

Israel has formally appointed as its next military chief Yoav Galant, who is best known for commanding a deadly war on the strip.

Galant, whose appointment was approved on Sunday, is expected to fully take over from the current holder of the position Gabi Ashkenazi in six months' time, DPA reported.

Gazans retrieve the remains of another Palestinian, who has been killed in Israeli aerial assaults, amid ongoing talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The victim died alongside his fellow Palestinian in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, when the Israeli Air Force launched two attacks on the tunnels, used for carrying supplies to the blockaded coastal sliver, AFP reported, citing Palestinian medics and witnesses.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set up a peace committee as part of the reconciliation effort to reintegrate some Taliban militants.

Announcing the measure, Karzai's spokesman Syamak Herawi said the creation of the High Peace Council would be a "significant step toward peace talks," in the country, CNN reported on Saturday.

Ireland has forced the European Commission to delay a proposed deal to allow transfer of sensitive personal data of EU citizens to Israel.

The proposal was taken off the table at a European Commission meeting in Brussels on Thursday after an objection was lodged by the Irish government, BBC reported.

Israeli settlements construction has continued despite Palestinian Authority officials' engagement in talks with Israelis, the head of the Palestinian National Initiative says.

Israeli settlers have illegally annexed 130 square kilometers of land in Qaryout, a village south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Ma'an news agency reported Mustafa Barghouthi as saying on Saturday.

Despite US announcement of complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, Washington will reportedly keep thousands of soldiers in the war-torn nation.

American military experts said the remaining forces are expected to stay in Iraq beyond 2011 as a 'peacekeeping force' for a decade, AFP reported.

The US Department of Defense has reportedly refused to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography by its personnel.

According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the Pentagon identified over 260 employees who purchased child porn in 2006, The Upshot news blog reported on Friday.

Top US military officer Admiral Michael Mullen has urged Turkey to help enforce UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara on Saturday that the US and Turkey need to do all that they can to ensure Iran does not achieve what he called "a nuclear weapons capability.”