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CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. For in-depth coverage, CNN.com provides special reports, video, audio, photo galleries, and interactive guides.

CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. For in-depth coverage, CNN.com provides special reports, video, audio, photo galleries, and interactive guides.

CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. For in-depth coverage, CNN.com provides special reports, video, audio, photo galleries, and interactive guides.

Bill Clinton may want to quietly drop Mideast peace from the trophy room of his presidency -- because Israelis and Palestinians are already looking to the next U.S. president to resolve their dispute. Not only that, they're also shooting at each other. Fierce gun battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian police Monday left a number of wounded on both sides in the worst violence since 1996. Th...

Hezbollah may have become more of a problem for Yasser Arafat than it is for Ehud Barak. With the Iran-backed guerrilla army playing responsible guardian of border stability in the wake of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon, Barak can focus his attention and political momentum on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Syria's President Hafez Assad must be grinning, if not giggling. Israel, which announced Tuesday that its withdrawal from Lebanon will be completed within days, is retreating under fire and leaving no buffer between itself and the hostile Hezbollah guerrilla forces who have filled the vacuum.

The spectacle of rockets raining down on northern Israel has got to have Hafez Assad grinning -- if he's able to, since a British newspaper reported over the weekend that the Syrian president recently suffered an incapacitating stroke. But Assad certainly has reason to smile, because the latest exchange of fire between the Jewish state and the Hezbollah guerrilla fighters just across the border ca...

Fafner the dragon became a fitfully pulsing blob (crab crossed with jellyfish) on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera Thursday night. As Siegfried pierced him in the heart with his sword Nothung, the blob emitted a dying puff of smoke (as if a pope had just been elected).

Israel's race to depart Lebanon could make life difficult for Yasser Arafat, because the spectacle of the Israeli army retreating under fire is emboldening Palestinian militants hostile to the peace process. An offensive by Hezbollah had, by Monday, sliced Israel's southern Lebanon occupation zone in half, leaving hundreds of Israeli-allied militiamen stranded as the guerrillas pressed their attac...

The last Israeli out of Lebanon didn't turn off the lights, but he did lock the gate. He also symbolically opened a dangerous new chapter of Israel's troubled relations with its neighbors. The last Israelis departed before dawn Wednesday, as the collapse of their Lebanese Christian proxy army forced Prime Minister Ehud Barak to speed up the withdrawal plan.

The trial of Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel resumed on Monday behind closed doors in this southern city, with prosecutors expected to detail the state's case for the first time.

Opening Iran's new reformist-dominated parliament Saturday, President Mohammad Khatami called for an end to factional wrangling in a nation where reformers and hard-liners have been struggling for the power to shape society.

The trial of Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel resumed on Monday behind closed doors in this southern city, with prosecutors expected to detail the state's case for the first time.

Iran is close to completing negotiations with foreign firms on several oil and gas field developments, although key state bodies still need to approve the contracts, a senior Iranian official said on Sunday.

Palestinian police clamped down on unrest in the Palestinian areas Monday following a week of violence that has interrupted peace talks in Sweden and left behind a bitter aftertaste of distrust.

Palestinian police clamped down on unrest in the Palestinian areas Monday following a week of violence that has interrupted peace talks in Sweden and left behind a bitter aftertaste of distrust.

The wail of memorial sirens brought Israel to a standstill for two minutes on Tuesday in silent tribute to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Despite the weekend release of 54 U.N. hostages, the government said today it would not compromise on its handling of detained rebel leader Foday Sankoh to secure the release of 300 additional captives.

An Iraqi-based opposition group has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack in Iran that reportedly injured six people.

An Iraqi-based opposition group has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack in Iran that reportedly injured six people.

American envoy Dennis Ross resumed mediation in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Tuesday, a day after deadly gun battles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip brought the two sides to the brink of a full-scale conflict.

Security measures in south Lebanon have eased tension along the border with Israel as experts try to verify whether the Israeli withdrawal is complete, U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Tuesday.

A morgue assistant who lured medical students to his workplace has been arrested for the murder, rape and mutilation of at least 16 young women in Yemen, a police officer said Sunday.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed Larsen said Wednesday Syria had fully accepted the U.N. report that concluded an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon did not require handing over the Shebaa Farms area.

Israeli government ministers worked on plans Sunday for the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, while workers were busy expanding the army's fortifications on the northern border.

Reform-minded judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer was sworn in as Turkey's 10th president today, raising expectations the country will push forward in efforts to broaden democracy and increase personal liberties.

American envoy Dennis Ross resumed mediation in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Tuesday, a day after deadly gun battles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip brought the two sides to the brink of a full-scale conflict.

Four mortars struck the east of Tehran but there were no reports of injuries or damage, state radio said on Tuesday.