The Syrian army raided cities across the country before dawn today, killing at least 34 people – most of them in the flashpoint city of Hama where a barrage of shelling and gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets, activists and residents said.

LANDSLIDES and floods triggered by torrential rains swept through a town in northern Turkey, killing at least 12 people, officials said.

A massive fire that destroyed a Kuwaiti wedding tent and killed more than 40 women inside was started by the groom’s ex-wife, it emerged today.

US president George Bush will one day be tried in court just like deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for his involvement in the Iraq tragedy, Iran’s supreme leader said today.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana today reacted cautiously to a proposal from a senior Iranian nuclear official that France enrich Iran’s uranium on Iranian soil to satisfy international demands for foreign supervision of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

At least 15 people were killed and another four injured when a bomb blew up in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighbourhood today, police said.

An uneasy calm fell over Paris’ riot-hit suburbs today after a week of unrest by gangs of youths shooting at police and firefighters, starting fires and attacking symbols of the French state.

A three-storey building collapsed in north-eastern Spain today, leaving five North African immigrants dead and four injured, the regional emergency service said.

Gunmen killed two American soldiers today while they were driving through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and a crowd swarmed over the scene, looting the vehicle and pummelling the bodies, witnesses said.

AMERICAN troops clashed with rioters carrying Saddam Hussein’s picture in Baghdad yesterday and heavy smoke billowed from the mayor’s office in a city west of the capital following a big explosion.