AMMAN (Reuters) – A Jordanian Muslim preacher who encourages a flow of militants to Syria predicts an eventual showdown between Islamists and secular rebel groups should President Bashar al-Assad fall.

Mohammed Shalabi, better known as Abu Sayyaf, said Islamist fighters with groups such as the Nusra Front, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization, had refused offers to join the rebel Free Syrian Army in return for pay and weapons.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s next government must heed voters and devote itself to bread-and-butter issues, not thorny foreign policy problems such as Iran’s nuclear plans and the Palestinian conflict, senior politicians said on Thursday.

Israelis worried about housing, prices and taxes have reshaped parliament, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to woo their centrist champion as his main coalition partner.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu set about forging a new ruling coalition on Wednesday after Israeli voters fed up with state coddling of ultra-Orthodox Jews chastised him by propelling an upstart centrist party to prominence.

Tuesday’s vote crystallised demands for attention to bread-and-butter issues over the ambitions of religiously fired hardliners, and largely sidelined foreign policy issues such as Iran’s nuclear plans and Palestinian aspirations.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel’s parliamentary election, shrugging off surprise losses to center-left challengers and vowing to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Exit polls showed the Israeli leader’s right-wing Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would remain the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly, but with only 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 the two parties held in the last parliament.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel’s election on Tuesday, with his hawkish bloc unexpectedly losing ground to resurgent center-left challengers, exit polls showed.

They suggested the Israeli leader’s Likud party, yoked with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, would still be the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly with 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 they held in the previous parliament.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A hardline Israeli government or a very hardline one.

With those widely viewed as the likeliest outcomes Of Tuesday’s election in Israel, the ballot has aroused minimal interest from Middle Eastern states who once scrutinised such votes for clues about the fate of the so-called peace process.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A hardline Israeli government or a very hardline one.

With those widely viewed as the likeliest outcomes Of Tuesday’s election in Israel, the ballot has aroused minimal interest from Middle Eastern states who once scrutinized such votes for clues about the fate of the so-called peace process.

AZAZ, Syria/LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in Syria now exceeds 60,000, the United Nations says. Another 100,000 may die this year, warns U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. About 220 were killed on Wednesday alone.

“When numbers get serious, they leave a mark on your door,” goes a song by American musician Paul Simon.

AZAZ, Syria/LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in Syria now exceeds 60,000, the United Nations says. Another 100,000 may die this year, warns U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. About 220 were killed on Wednesday alone.

“When numbers get serious, they leave a mark on your door,” goes a song by American musician Paul Simon.

CAIRO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist president has
given the army temporary power to arrest civilians to help
secure a constitutional referendum seen by the Muslim
Brotherhood as a triumph for democracy and by its liberal foes
as a religious straitjacket.

President Mohamed Mursi, bruised by the political uproar in
which protesters have besieged his graffiti-besmirched palace to
demand his downfall, has rescinded a Nov. 22 decree giving him
wide powers, but has not budged on the referendum date.