AFP - International talks on the Middle East set for Friday took on new urgency after Israeli warplanes targeted the Gaza Strip in response to a fatal rocket attack.

Reuters - Israeli aircraft struck at least six targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said.

AP - A rocket fired by Gaza militants smashed into a greenhouse in an Israeli border village Thursday, killing a Thai worker in the first such death since Israel's massive offensive against Hamas-ruled Gaza more than a year ago.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Thursday amid a dispute over Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem, her spokesman said.

AFP - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived Thursday in Moscow to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but still had no new date for his delayed trip to the Middle East, US officials said.

AFP - The Obama administration has had no fresh top-level contact for 24 hours with Israel, as it awaits answers on its criticism of Israeli settlement policy, the White House said Thursday.

AFP - The US Treasury on Thursday froze the assets of Gaza-based Islamic National Bank and Al-Aqsa Television, saying they were "controlled" by Hamas which Washington has branded a terrorist group.

Reuters - The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against two firms in Gaza -- Islamic National Bank and Al-Aqsa Television -- for their ties to the ruling Hamas movement.

AFP - A heartbroken Saudi student has been arrested in south Lebanon along the border with Israel where he was seeking an "honourable death," Lebanese security officials said on Thursday.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart clashed openly Thursday over the planned launch this summer of Iran's first, Russian-built nuclear power plant, highlighting a split in views over how to steer Iran away from nuclear weapons.

AFP - A foreign worker was killed when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a kibbutz in southern Israel on Thursday, the Israeli army said, with media saying the victim is Thai.

AFP - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned "any kind of violence" on Thursday after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where she was on a brief visit, fired a rocket into Israel, killing one man.

AFP - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell will arrive in the region on Sunday for a visit that had been delayed amid a row between Washington and Israel, a senior Palestinian official told AFP.

AFP - Palestinian customs agents are hanging banners, setting up checkpoints and raiding shops across the West Bank in a campaign to rid the territory of products made in Israeli settlements.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday Israeli plans to build more homes near East Jerusalem were not helpful for the Middle East peace process, but he said the issue had not led to a crisis with one of the United States' closest allies.

AP - With the Mideast peace process stalled and U.S.-Israeli relations in crisis, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton headed Wednesday to a Mideast strategy meeting of top international diplomats.