National and International News-Tuesday, July 25th

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Rome is the next stop for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as she continues efforts to bring peace to the Mideast. She left for Italy after meeting in the West Bank with the Palestinian president. Rice says the U-S wants an urgent end to the violence, and also a new way of doing things in the region, so that problems are solved without war.

NABATIYEH, Lebanon (AP) - The violence continues on both sides of the border, with a Hezbollah rocket killing a girl in Israel, and six people dying in an Israeli air attack on southern Lebanon. Israel's prime minister says his country remains determined to defeat the militants, even if it means a "long struggle."

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The first shipment of what U-S officials say will be 30 (m) million dollars worth of aid is now in Lebanon.Food, blankets and medicine were aboard the American military choppers. A Greek ship also arrived with 80 tons of humanitarian supplies.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - President Bush says the U-S will be better able to deal with violence in Baghdad, as it moves U-S military police and other forces to the capital. Speaking at the White House after a meeting with Iraq's prime minister, Bush said improved military conditions outside Baghdad will allow that transfer to take place.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators believe a tour boat that capsized in New York state last fall was overcrowded. Twenty elderly tourists died on Lake George. The boat had 48 people and was cleared to carry 50. But that was based on weight limits set four decades ago, when the average American weighed 25 pounds less.