Paul McCartney will marry for the third time today, tying the knot with American heiress Nancy Shevell in front of close family and friends.

Thomas Hitzlsperger will not make his West Ham debut in tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League clash with Tottenham.

Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun will be available for the home game with Blackpool tomorrow despite reports suggesting he will miss the game because of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

West Ham have no fresh injury worries for tomorrow’s trip to Stoke, where manager Avram Grant will not be in the dug out as he observes the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Bolton could be without captain Kevin Davies for tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

Tal Ben Haim maintains his West Ham team-mates can go to Stoke and get a result, despite the absence of both the Israeli defender and manager Avram Grant.

West Ham have confirmed manager Avram Grant will not take charge of the team for Saturday’s Barclays Premier League match at Stoke so he can observe the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Avram Grant and Tal Ben Haim were today set to be given permission to miss West Ham’s Barclays Premier League game at Stoke so they can observe Yom Kippur.

VIOLENCE at a holy site did not affect prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, which started yesterday at sundown and ends at sundown today.

Natalie Portman has been dealt a bitter blow just in time for tomorrow's Jewish holy day Yom Kippur - a leading US Rabbi has condemned her portrayal of an Indian princess in a new video.

French mime Marcel Marceau was buried in a simple ceremony today at Paris’ Pere Lachaise cemetery, taking his place alongside other giants of the arts also buried there.

Avram Grant described himself as the “normal” one as he vowed to coach Chelsea in his own way after taking over from ’the Special One’.

THE internal fighting between Palestinian factions in Gaza is the latest stumbling block to attempts to secure a peace that has been elusive since the formation of the state of Israel.

THE Israeli army abandoned almost all of its positions in Lebanon yesterday, military officials said, fulfilling a key condition of the August 14 ceasefire that ended a month-long war against Hezbollah guerrillas.

The Israeli army withdrew the last of its troops from Lebanon overnight today, military officials said, fulfilling a key condition of the August 14 cease-fire that ended a month-long war against Hezbollah guerrillas.

Mel Gibson has turned down the offer to publicly apologise to Los Angeles' Jews on holy day Yom Kippur for anti-Semitic comments he made last month.

Mel Gibson has been invited to meet with three prominent American Jewish groups, after his apology for making anti-Semitic remarks when he was arrested for drunk driving last week.

Mel Gibson’s latest apology drew mixed reactions from Jewish leaders, with some saying they were willing to help the actor address the anti-Semitic slurs he made during a drunken-driving arrest and others demanding proof of his repentance.

PALESTINIAN militants shelled an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing one woman and wounding another.

An Israeli woman was killed in today's Palestinian mortar attack which hit a home in a Gaza Strip settlement.

A female Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Israelis and wounded at least 16 others today when she blew herself up at a crowded crossroads in Jerusalem.

Troops sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip today, imposing a virtual blanket ban on Palestinians entering Israel until the end of the Jewish holiday season next month, due to fears of terror attacks.

Syria demanded that the UN Security Council condemn Israel’s airstrike against an alleged terrorist training camp near Damascus, but the United States said it would not support any resolution that does not also criticise attacks against Israel.

A Palestinian woman blew herself up in a crowded beachfront restaurant at lunchtime today, killing herself and 17 bystanders, including three children.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded beach restaurant in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa today, killing at least 10 people and wounding about two dozen, several of them seriously.

Israelis were ushering in the Jewish New Year’s holiday today with little expectation that the year 5764 will bring respite from the conflict with the Palestinians and a deepening economic crisis.

A Palestinian man was shot dead in Gaza by Israeli soldiers today as he approached a border crossing.

ISRAELI army chief Moshe Yaalon said yesterday that Israel was prepared for an attack by Iraq as a conflict with Baghdad loomed after Washington said it would act against Saddam Hussein with or without world support.

Ramadan’s holiness never stopped Iraqi Muslims from shooting at Iranian Muslims in the 1980s, or Egyptian Muslims from gassing Yemeni co-religionists in the 1960s.

Palestinian officials said a Peres-Arafat meeting could take place today or tomorrow morning, before the start of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Israel-Palestinian peace talks were put off again after a Jewish woman was killed in a shooting attack and Israel closed off a swathe of West Bank land.