Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has jokingly said that he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper has reported.

Syria’s vice president has said his regime and the rebels are both going down a losing path after 21 months of civil war, a rare admission by a senior government official that victory is unlikely for president Bashar Assad.

An Egyptian court is to hear a legal action seeking to prevent Hosni Mubarak’s former intelligence chief and his last prime minister from running for the presidency.

IRAN accused Israel and the United States of seeking world support for a military strike on its nuclear facilities, which Russia warned yesterday would be “a very serious mistake”.

Saudi Arabia brought the two main Palestinian leaders to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, today for a last-ditch attempt to end their bloody conflict and complete a power-sharing agreement on a coalition government.