* Americans Approve Military Strike on Iran if Diplomacy Fails The drums of war are beating louder, amplified by Iran’s pursuit of its nuclear agenda and the West and Israel’s determination not to let it do so.

* EU considers sanctions on Russia EU leaders are considering sanctions “and many other means” against Russia over the Georgia crisis.

* Russia to up naval presence in Syria Russia plans to increase its military presence in the Mediterranean by using Syrian ports more frequently.

* Cold War tension rises as Putin talks of Black Sea confrontation A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about “direct confrontation” between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea.

* Jordan reaches out to Hamas In an about-face, Jordan is reaching out to Hamas amid fears that a collapse of Mideast peacemaking would bring an influx of refugees.

* Israel unlikely to berate Russia As the US and Russia sent military vessels to dock at different Georgian ports on Wednesday, Israel continued to tread carefully.

* Russia fails to win support of Asian alliance Russia’s hopes of winning international support for its actions in Georgia were dashed Thursday.

* NASA Technology Illuminates Dead Sea Scrolls Scientists are using American space-age technology to bring to light the faded script on thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

* West fears Hezbollah setting up cells in Venezuela The budding strategic partnership between Venezuela and Iran has prompted fears from Western governments that Hezbollah is establishing a growing number of operational cells in the South American country.

* Abbas: All Palestinians should have the right to return home Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he rejects the idea that Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon might be forced to stay there permanently.