A number of countries meeting at the UN have offered troops for the expanded peace force for Lebanon.Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal have pledged troops, while Germany offered a maritime task force.
The UN hopes to deploy an initial 3,500-strong force within two weeks. The UN deputy chief warned earlier that delay may threaten the ceasefire.
France, [...]

The UK security threat level is to stay at “critical” following a suspected plot to blow up airliners, Home Secretary John Reid has said.
He said he believed the main suspects were in custody but it was right to “err on the side of caution”.
Everyone faced the threat and everyone “should respond with a common purpose [...]

But questions still remain, and the answers to many of those questions lie in Pakistan.
In the wake of last July’s bombings, it did not take long for Pakistan to become almost as much a focus of attention as the Yorkshire base of the bombers.
Were the men really home-grown terrorists or were they directed by al-Qaeda? [...]

Many of those killed in the air strikes and heavy fighting have been militants but some of the dead are civilians.
Israel’s operations, the biggest since it withdrew from Gaza last summer, began largely in the south in a bid to free a soldier captured by militants.
Troops have moved deeper into the north since rocket attacks [...]

Israeli air strikes have killed eight Palestinians, including civilians, in northern Gaza, medical sources say.
The violence comes as Israeli troops move further into Palestinian territory following Palestinian rocket attacks on the Israeli city of Ashkelon.