Women subjected to severe stress during pregnancy risk giving birth to children who develop schizophrenia, a study suggests.

Tens of thousands of Israelis linked hands today in a human chain in a protest against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to dismantle the Jewish settlements and withdraw the army from the Gaza Strip.

AS his US presidency unravelled, Richard Nixon was too “loaded” to take an urgent call during the Arab-Israeli war from British Prime Minister Edward Heath, according to transcripts of Dr Henry Kissinger’s phone calls.

Five days into the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, with the superpowers on the brink of confrontation, President Richard Nixon was too drunk to discuss the crisis with the British prime minister, according to newly released transcripts of tape recordings.

Malaysia’s prime minister today confirmed that Islamic states had discussed using “the oil weapon” in a bid to head off US moves to wage war on Iraq.