Recent attacks and retaliation threats have the Mideast on edge about the possibility of another war between Israel and Hezbollah, even though officials on both sides say they don't expect any eruption of major fighting soon. The issue lurks behind the scenes as Arab leaders head to a weekend summit in next-door Syria, whose relations with Lebanon and support for the Shiite Muslim militants of Hezbollah have raised regional tensions.
"I think it's just posturing," said Timur Goksel, a former U.N. peacekeeping official who is a longtime observer of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in southern Lebanon.

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A missile attack at a house in Wana area of South Waziristan tribal region Sunday killed 16 persons, sources said. Several also wounded in the missile attack at the house of a tribal leader.
A barrage of seven missiles were fired at the house of a tribesman Noorullah and adjarent area killed 16 and injured several persons, eyewitnesses said.
The injured being transferred to a nearby hospital.
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The Chad government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in much of the country after rebels attacked the capital, N'Djamena, last weekend. The curfew applies in the capital and six provinces in the south and east, the prime minister announced. At least 100 civilians were killed in the fighting, aid workers say. Meanwhile, President Idriss Deby asked the European Union to deploy peacekeepers to the country "as quickly as possible".
Rebel forces say they have regrouped near the town of Mongo, 600 km (375 miles) east of N'Djamena.

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Pro-Taleban militants who overran a paramilitary fort in north-west Pakistan have abandoned the position, a Pakistani army spokesman has said.

The army said seven soldiers were killed in the attack in South Waziristan and 15 men are missing.

A Taleban spokesman in the region told the BBC Urdu service that 16 troops had been killed and another 12 captured during the fighting.

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Mexican troops and police shot dead three suspected drug hitmen armed with grenades in a fierce gun battle in a town near the U.S. border on Monday.

Soldiers fought around 20 armed men after being attacked with grenades following a search of a suspected drug safe house in Rio Bravo, across the border from McAllen, Texas, witnesses told Reuters.

Three gunmen died in the battle and 10 soldiers and policemen were injured, the security forces said. Ten people were arrested.

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A UN deadline for agreement on the future of Kosovo is set to expire after months of talks failed to break deadlock over the fate of the region.

Kosovo is still a province of Serbia, but ethnic Albanian leaders there have threatened to declare independence unilaterally after the deadline passes.

Nato - fearing a violent Serb reaction - has said it will keep 16,000 troops in Kosovo to deter any clashes.

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Army gunship helicopters on Thursday attacked positions of militants in the restive Swat district, killing eight militants, including Maulana Fazlullah’s deputy, Maulana Shah Dawran, besides detaining more than two dozen suspects.
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Philippines - Philippine troops and SWAT teams stormed a five-star hotel on Thursday that dissident military officers commandeered after walking out of their coup trial and demanding that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resign.Soon after the confrontation ended with the dissidents surrendering, the government announced a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew for the Manila area, with checkpoints set up and the military and police on red alert.

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Several military officers defied a deadline to surrender after storming out of their coup trial Thursday, taking over an upscale hotel and demanding that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resign.

Shots were heard about 75 minutes after the deadline passed. SWAT teams and troops used an armored personnel carrier as cover to move into position for a possible assault.

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A US military spokesman in Iraq has blamed Iranian-backed Shia militants for a bomb attack on a pet market in Baghdad that killed at least 13 people.

The bomb, hidden in a box of birds at the popular Ghazil market, also injured dozens on Friday.

Rear Adm Gregory Smith said four people had been arrested overnight and that confessions pointed to an Iranian-backed special groups cell.

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US and Iraqi forces are carrying out a major security operation in the northern city of Kirkuk, where a 12-hour curfew was imposed.

Iraqi police said that so far more than 20 suspects had been detained.
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At least 50 people were killed in renewed sectarian fighting overnight in Parachinar engulfed by unrest since last week, officials said on Saturday.

Heavy fighting broke out at several places in the Parachinar district late Friday and continued throughout the night, a local administration official said.
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Militancy and extremism will be eliminated and writ of the government will be established at all cost in Swat valley, said Corps Commander Peshawar, Lieutenant General Muhammad Masood Aslam.
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Thousands of Japanese support workers at US military bases across Japan have taken part in a strike over a planned pay cut.

The workers carried out a half-day nationwide walkout in response to a proposal to reduce their benefits.

The staff are paid by the government in Tokyo, which wants to cut costs.

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olice in Senegal's capital, Dakar, have fired teargas at hundreds of protesting street vendors who threw stones and burned tyres.
The clashes came in response to police enforcing a new government policy to remove the vendors. Demonstrators blocked main streets and attacked cars. At least fifteen people were arrested - making it the most serious riot in Senegal for years.

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