GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel said it was approaching the "endgame" of its three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt. Under the cease-fire plan, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would initially remain in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed until security arrangements are made to ensure Hamas militants do not rearm.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan troops opened fire on demonstrators Monday, leaving at least four people dead, while Iranian police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters hurling stones and firebombs at the Danish Embassy in Tehran as anger mounted over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

JERUSALEM - Hamas derided the United States and Israel on Tuesday following reports they were exploring ways to topple the militants' incoming government.

CAIRO, Egypt - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired excerpts Wednesday of what it said was an audiotape of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant calling on Muslims to imitate the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in strikes on the United States and its allies in the war on Iraq.

WASHINGTON — Middle East violence is shaking up a presidential race that otherwise looks stubbornly stable, and tight. President Barack Obama holds a tiny edge, Republican Mitt Romney is seeking a breakthrough message, and three debates are ahead in the campaign's final seven weeks.

AMMAN, Jordan - At least one American was among the 56 people killed by suicide bombers in attacks on three U.S.-based hotels Wednesday night, a U.S. Embassy official said Thursday.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden's deputy warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets, according to a new videotape aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Warplanes bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again early Sunday, witnesses reported, after a day in which Israel tightened a noose around this reeling nation with the heaviest air strikes yet in the four-day-old conflict.

The photo is grainy and worn. A rare memento that survived customs, the farm in Tennessee and a family’s purging of possessions.

IRVINE, California - Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door.