Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai today criticized Pakistan's decision to erect a fence and put land mines along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

A bomber blew himself up outside the home of an Afghan lawmaker in Kabul today, killing one civilian and wounding at least seven people, including three bodyguards.

President Bush says he plans to increase the number of U.S. military forces to deal with the long-term fight against terrorism.

Iraqi officials say a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a police checkpoint in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding about 30 others.

Jasmin Merdan, who heads a Bosnian nongovernmental organization (NGO) opposed to Islamic fundamentalism, told RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service on December 8 that such beliefs pose a threat to Bosnia-Herzegovina by providing encouragement to terrorists and by undermining the more tolerant form of indigenous "traditional Islam."

Tony Blair has called on the international community to back Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the Fatah leader called for fresh elections.

President Abbas called for a new vote earlier today in a bid to halt escalating tensions between supporters of the Hamas and Fatah factions. Tony Blair said his speech was "very important" and arrived at a "critical time".

Israel's High Court has decided not to issue a complete ban on the targeted killings of Palestinian militants. The three-judge panel rejected a petition by two human rights groups that demanded an end to the controversial policy. It took four years for the court to issue a decision. Robert Berger files this VOA report from Jerusalem.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has used his farewell address to caution the United States against sacrificing its ideals in the battle against terrorism. VOA's correspondent at the U.N., Peter Heinlein, reports, Mr. Annan spoke in the hometown of former U.S. President Harry Truman.

Hundreds of wanted terrorist posters are being distributed during the holiday season to U.S. airports by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The poster, "The Faces of Global Terrorism," identifies 26 known terrorists with reward offers of up to $25 million as part of the Rewards For Justice (RFJ) program.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) led a four-day training course on "Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Yerevan December 4-7.

Britain and the United States have condemned the killing in Beirut of the Lebanese cabinet minister and prominent anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel.