Israelis loosen up West Bank crossing

Nablus, West Bank

Israelis loosen up West Bank crossing

Palestinian motorists drove freely out of the West Bank city of Nablus for the first time in six years Saturday after Israel eased long-standing travel restrictions in an apparent goodwill gesture for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, or the "Feast of the Sacrifice," set to begin on Monday.

The move was the latest sign of improving cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. In contrast, Israel continues to battle militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, most recently launching airstrikes against rocket launchers in northern Gaza on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, two Jewish settlers turned themselves in to police after an Israeli human-rights group filmed a shooting attack on Palestinian stone throwers during a rampage Thursday when Israeli forces evicted settlers from a contested building in the city of Hebron.

Rostov-On-Don, Russia

Violence unsettles Russian regions

Police stormed a small hotel where armed militants were blockaded near Makhachkala in the southern Russian province of Dagestan on Saturday, and two rebels and a policeman died, the regional Interior Ministry said.

Police and soldiers also clashed with militants in Ingushetia, another republic in the restive Northern Caucasus. Dagestan and Ingushetia both border Chechnya, where separatists have fought two full-scale wars with Russian forces in the past decade-and-a-half.

Mogadishu, Somalia

Muslim militia takes another town

A hard-line Islamist militia seized control Saturday of Gurae, a trading town in central Somalia, raising fears that the al-Qaida-linked insurgents may expand their territory before the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops supporting the crumbling government.

Somalia's crumbling government has been fighting the Islamists since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops supporting the administration chased an Islamic leadership from power.

Since then, the Islamists have split into several factions. One faction has signed a peace deal with the government, but other fighters have been grabbing territory.

London

Parents warned not to steal gifts

A British police chief has warned financially strapped parents not to steal gifts for their children this Christmas.

In a podcast, Cambridgeshire's Chief Constable Julie Spence said: "What might start out as an idea to keep a child happy could finish with a criminal record, a substantial financial penalty and the social stigma of being known as a thief."

Britain's economy has been battered by the global financial meltdown.

Also

Youth riot: Rioting erupted in central Athens on Saturday night after police reportedly shot and killed a 16-year-old boy. Hundreds of youths in the area attacked police cars with stones and firebombs.

Big quake: A powerful earthquake 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck off East Timor's coast Saturday.

Seattle Times news services