A 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were killed on Saturday night by Israeli gunfire during its ground and air military offensive "Autumn Clouds" in northern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Unknown gunmen kidnapped an Iraqi prominent professor from his house in eastern Baghdad neighborhood on Saturday night, a well-informed police source said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Saturday called on the people to be calm when the court delivers what Saddam Hussein "deserves" on the Dujail case.

The Iraqi authorities will impose a curfew in the capital and two neighboring provinces and indefinitely close Baghdad international airport on Sunday, when the court will give a verdict in Saddam Hussein's first trial.

The Damascus-based Arab Interim Parliament on Saturday called for an immediate release of detained Palestinian officials and civilians from the Israeli jails, Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmed Badawi arrived Saturday on a three-day visit at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart.

Japanese opposition party leaders on Saturday criticized Foreign Minister Taro Aso for tolerating Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa who recently repeated the call for a debate over the necessity of a nuclear buildup for Japan.

Nepali Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Amik Sherchan has said that the next summit talks between Seven Parties Alliance (SPA) government and the guerrillas will be held within one or two days.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the UN Security Council on Saturday to convene and discuss the Israeli military operations in Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Unknown gunmen fired shots at Bangladeshi former Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed's residence in the capital of Dhaka Saturday night, leaving a police constable wounded.