Middle East News

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian pedestrians gawked at the unusual sight of female police officers directing traffic in Ramallah on Wednesday, the first batch of women to venture into a job traditionally reserved for men in the West Bank.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007, at least 3,888 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,166 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful car bombing Wednesday killed the likely next head of the army in the first such assassination targeting Lebanon's military, seen by many Lebanese as the only institution keeping the divided nation from breaking apart.

BAGHDAD - Three car bombs exploded in quick succession Wednesday at the main market of a southern Shiite city, killing at least 41 people and wounding 150 others, police and local government officials said. It was the deadliest attack against Iraqi civilians in four months.

ALGIERS, Algeria - Rescuers in a shaken city on Wednesday extracted the living and the dead from the crumpled remains of U.N. offices in Algiers that were bombed by an al-Qaida affiliate. Victims included U.N. staff from around the world, police officers and law students.

JERUSALEM - The mayor of Sderot, a small town in Israel that has borne the brunt of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, announced Wednesday that he is stepping down, saying the situation there is "impossible."

JERUSALEM - Israeli army spotters have a new job: counting wild animals on both sides of the West Bank separation barrier to help naturalists assess the problems caused by the huge structure, an army publication reported.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - There's a reason for Christmas cheer in Bethlehem this year — more tourists are on their way now than in any holiday season since Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out seven years ago, the mayor said.

Recent attacks in Lebanon, most of them against opponents of Syria:

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian rocket barrage, an Israeli army incursion in Gaza and a fresh land dispute in Jerusalem marred the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in seven years Wednesday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Two Emirati men were sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison in the highly charged kidnapping and sexual assault of a French-Swiss teenage boy.

LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that Taliban fighters in Afghanistan can win a role in the country's future if they renounce violence, and he pledged a long-term British troop presence.

TEHRAN, Iran - A popular former president has accused hard-line clerics of blocking progress in Iran by disqualifying reformists from parliament elections and suppressing student voices.

BAGHDAD - The boy's dark brown eyes scanned the operating room where he spent two days of lifesaving surgery last month. Layer by layer, the surgeon scrubbed at partially healed wounds to prepare the limbs shattered by a bomb intended for the Americans.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president took an unusually soft tone toward the United States on Tuesday, saying a new U.S. intelligence report marks an opportunity to resolve U.S.-Iranian differences. But he said Washington must take further steps, including dropping nuclear sanctions.

BAGHDAD - Strings of bulbs festooning the Imam Kazim shrine's four majestic minarets light up the sky over Baghdad's Shiite Kazimiyah neighborhood, attracting thousands of nighttime worshippers.

JERUSALEM - Israel became the world's fourth largest defense exporter in 2007, surpassing Britain, with $4.3 billion in signed contracts, officials said Tuesday amid efforts to tighten controls on the nation's arms sales to banned countries or groups.

JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators planned to resume peace talks Wednesday at the historic King David hotel, which has been at the center of fighting and peacemaking for longer than Israel has been a state or the Palestinians have been trying to build one.

Truck bombs that targeted U.N. and government buildings in Algeria came on Dec. 11, a date with heavy significance in the North African nation.

Timeline of recent bombings in Algeria:

TEL AVIV, Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday delivered a fierce rebuttal to a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons, saying Tehran still poses a major threat to the West and the world must not let down its guard.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A choir of Christians and Muslims sang carols under a Christmas tree in Beirut, a welcome note of good feelings for Lebanese increasingly frustrated with stubborn politicians leading the country to the brink of collapse by refusing to compromise on a president.

Some key events in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts:

JERUSALEM - Top Israeli defense officials shared their concerns about Iran's nuclear threat with U.S. military chief Adm. Mike Mullen during his one-day visit to Israel, defense officials said Tuesday.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - An initial investigation shows that pilot error caused the Nov. 30 crash of an Atlasjet plane that killed all 57 people on board, Turkish news media reported Tuesday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The International Monetary Fund has come out in support of a Palestinian plan for economic reform and recovery that would require about $5.6 billion in foreign aid over three years.

LALESH, Iraq - Iraq's embattled Yazidi minority, the target of the worst single terrorist attack since the U.S.-led invasion, now is looking to the Kurdish regional government for protection.