* Assad confirms Olmert’s Golan offer Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed reports in the Arab media to the effect that Israel had agreed to relinquish the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria.

* Ahmadinejad to Syria: Don’t side with US Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a warning to Syria on Thursday not to side with the Americans.

* ‘Golan belongs to the Jewish people’ Heads of Israeli towns in the Golan Heights convened Thursday for an emergency meeting following reports in recent days that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed to relinquish the Golan Heights to Syria.

* CIA reveals ‘Syria reactor’ files US intelligence officials have been presenting evidence to Congress they say shows that North Korea has been providing nuclear assistance to Syria.

* UN walkout over Gaza ‘Nazi’ remarks The US, Britain, France and other members have walked out of a closed meeting of the UN Security Council after Libya compared the situation in Gaza to Nazi concentration camps in World War II.

* Russia embraces its church, distancing western faiths It was not long after a Methodist church put down roots here that the troubles began.

* UN: Food aid to Gazans halted due to Israeli fuel cutoff An official says the United Nations has stopped distributing food to Palestinian refugees in Gaza because its vehicles have run out of fuel following Israel’s blockade of the Strip.

* EU commission investigates link between biofuels and food crisis In the wake of mounting pressure from international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations World Food Programme, European Commission President Barroso has requested a study on whether there is any relationship between the recent skyrocketing of food prices around the world and biofuels.

* Abbas to Rice: US must pressure Israel The gaps between the two sides in the peace negotiations are still wide, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Wednesday.

* Iraq PM: Factions to rejoin cabinet Iraqi political groups boycotting the government of Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, have agreed to put aside their differences and rejoin the government, according to an official statement.