Amman - Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad on Monday opened the the new Jordan-based Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) in the presence of a number of prominent scientists from across the world.

The centre would provide the Middle East with "several facilities for basic scientific research and applications that will help boost sciences and technology" in the region, Jordan's Nuclear Energy Commission Chairman Khalid Touqan said at the opening.

Cairo - Four people were killed and three went missing in the collapse of an underground tunnel Sunday north of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, security sources said.

Sources from the militant group Hamas informed Egyptian authorities of the incident.

Egypt is still searching for the missing people inside the tunnel, the source said.

The identities of the dead and missing were not immediately known, the source said.

Isa Town, Bahrain - An international left-wing youth seminar that opened on the outskirts of the Bahrain capital of Manama on Friday blamed US policies in the Middle East for escalating tensions.

The two-day meeting held under the motto Youth of the Gulf and the Path to Democracy re-affirmed support for armed resistance groups fighting occupation and accused Washington of spreading sectarian tension.

The vice president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), Omar al-Deeb, accused the US of carrying out major wars beyond its borders.

Istanbul - European countries like to view Turkey as a bridge between the West and the Orient.

But as the Islamic-conservative AKP government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan grows in self-confidence, it is looking beyond this, anxious to build its regional muscle alongside Iran to form a presence that the Arab and southern Caucasian states cannot ignore.

"Turkey is in the front row when it comes to Middle East issues," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan stressed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) regional meeting his country has been hosting.

Tel Aviv - Legislators of the opposition Likud party asked Israel's attorney-general Friday to examine whether interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of a transitional government has the authority to continue peace negotiations with Syria.

Likud legislator Yuval Steinitz said Olmert, by conducting talks with Syria as an outgoing premier, was "trampling the principles of democracy" and endangering "Israel's most vital interests" for the sake of his own personal record.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday urged Israel to put an end to "brutal" attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

"The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," said a statement issued by the French presidency of the EU on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states.

"The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations," the EU said.