Wars, Cease-fire | featured news

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire, the Egyptian foreign minister said Wednesday, ending eight days of fighting that killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis. The cease-fire is set to start at 9 p.m. Cairo time (2 p.m. ET), Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr announced in a news conference alongside visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Hamas said a truce had been reached between Israel and Gaza, though Israel couched the news by saying an agreement was close but not a done deal. Hamas official Ayman Taha said the truce would go into effect early Wednesday, according to Reuters news service.

Protests emerged onto the streets across Syria on Friday as a temporary cease-fire marking the most important Muslim holiday of the year largely held at the start of its first day.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi showed no signs of backing down Saturday after officials spurned an opposition cease-fire proposal.

Col. Muammar Qaddafi has gained the upper hand on the Libyan battlefield, even as British and other Western officials maintain that his regime is "crumbling" from the inside. Benefiting from a change in tactics, Colonel Qaddafi's forces have made significant gains against rebels with more nimble units that are harder for Western allies to target by air. Rebels, now lacking the curtain of airstrikes that paved their rapid westward advance last weekend, appear to be relinquishing their determination to battle Qaddafi's forces all the way to Tripoli.

China escalated its opposition to American-led airstrikes on Libya on Tuesday, calling for an immediate ceasefire and warning of “a humanitarian disaster” caused by the three-day-old aerial assault.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military's actions constituted a "humanitarian operation."

The US calls for an immediate ceasefire to the fighting in north-east Sri Lanka to allow civilians to leave the war zone.