07/19/12

* Syria conflict: Fresh offensive against rebels Syrian troops have been mobilized in a drive to oust armed rebels from parts of Damascus, a day after a bomb attack that killed three top regime figures.

* Al-Qaeda Could Obtain Syrian Chemical Weapons, Jordan King Warns King Abdullah II of Jordan warned Wednesday that the situation in Syria is spinning out of control.

* Pentagon reportedly seeking to avert Israeli strike on Syrian chemical weapon sites Defense officials are in talks with the Pentagon, which wants to prevent a possible Israeli strike on Syria's chemical weapons facilities.

* 'Assad gave us rockets to fire at Israel,' Nasrallah says The Assad regime provided Hezbollah and Hamas with the rockets fired at Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

* Abbas and Egypt's Morsi Meet in Cairo Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met Egypt's newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo on Wednesday.

* Rural Chinese get online as mobile overtakes desktop Mobile phones are now the most common way for people to connect to the internet in China.

* China pledges $20bn in credit for Africa at summit China has pledged $20bn in credit for Africa over the next three years, in a push for closer ties and increased trade.

* Peres extends Ramadan greetings to Muslims worldwide In a video message sent Wednesday to thousands of websites and blogs, President Shimon Peres wished the Muslim world a "generous Ramadan."

* 'Mahdi' virus stole data on national infrastructure A new computer virus with Persian words in its programming code infected sensitive computers across the Middle East, including Israel.

* PM: Time for world to admit Iran's role in world terror Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that all the countries of the world that understand that Iran is an exporter of world terror must join Israel in "stating that fact clearly".