A Syrian MP has fled the country to join the opposition against President Bashar Assad, saying the people are suffering sweeping human rights violations.

DISTURBING images of a bloodstained and shaken Muammar Gaddafi being dragged around by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator’s death near his hometown of Sirte.

Two men claiming to be Muammar Gaddafi’s sons have made conflicting appeals from hiding, one of them calling for talks with rebel leaders and the other urging the regime’s loyalists to fight to the death.

LIBYA’S new masters offered a £1 million bounty for the fugitive Muammar Gaddafi yesterday, after he urged his men to carry on a battle that kept the capital in a state of fear.

Saudi Arabia is bristling under international criticism over the sentencing of a woman rape victim to prison and 200 lashes, insisting the West should keep its nose out of its legal system.

Iraqi state television today reported that US Vice President Dick Cheney was in Baghdad, but US officials said Cheney was not in the capital.

An al-Qaida member who escaped from a US prison in Afghanistan urged his followers in a new video aired today to acquire nuclear technology.

Al-Arabiya TV is reporting the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been killed, citing unidentified security sources.

Muslim leaders in the Middle East today demanded further apologies from Pope Benedict XVI for controversial remarks about Islam, as attacks on Christian churches continued in the West Bank.

A Lebanese police officer and his bodyguard were wounded by a remote-controlled roadside bomb today in an apparent assassination attempt.

Extremists said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died the death of a true Muslim hero, but other Arabs saw him as a killer who had devastated many families.

Red banners with urgent tags appeared on many Arab TV stations today, as the region’s major stations broke into regular programming to announce some of the biggest news in months – the death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army recruiting centre today in northern Iraq, killing at least 40 people and wounding 30 others, the Iraqi military said.

An explosion occurred today at a major oil refinery in Baqiq, eastern Saudi Arabia, a Saudi oil official said.

NEW images of naked prisoners, some bloodied and lying on the floor, threatened to revive public anger over abuse by US guards at Abu Ghraib prison at a time when tensions with the West are already running high in the Middle East.

New images of naked prisoners, some bloodied and lying on the floor, threatened to revive public anger over abuse by US guards at Abu Ghraib prison at a time when tensions with the west are already running high in the Middle East.

Al-Arabiya TV today aired footage of two German hostages surrounded by their kidnappers who threatened to kill them unless the German government doesn’t meet their demands.

Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas today asked the international community not to cut vital aid to the Palestinians, as world leaders met to discuss the fallout from the Islamic militant group’s victory in elections last week.

A senior Hamas official today brushed aside warnings that Western aid to the Palestinians could dry up because of the militants’ hardline stand on Israel, saying the Islamic group would not bow to international pressure.

Insurgents launched roadside bomb blasts and rocket-propelled grenade attacks north of Baghdad early today, killing at least nine people, including a policeman’s four children.

IRAQ’S landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country’s October 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it.

IRAQIS gathered around televisions to watch Saddam Hussein's trial yesterday, with Shi'ite victims of his regime calling the proceedings long-overdue justice, but some Sunni Arabs condemning it as unfair humiliation of the former leader.

Syria’s interior minister was found dead in his office, days before the release of a UN report that could implicate high-ranking Syrian officials in the murder of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

An explosion was heard in Jordan’s port of Aqaba near a facility used by US military vessels, an official and Arab satellite TV stations said, but the cause of the blast was unclear.

Iraq was hit by a new wave of attacks targeting security forces today, killing at least 20 people in Baghdad.

Defying a ban on protests, about 10,000 people demonstrated against Syrian interference in Lebanon this morning, shortly before parliament was to debate a motion of confidence in the government.

THE bodies of about 50 Iraqi soldiers were discovered yesterday after apparently having been killed in an ambush by insurgents.

Kidnappers released two female Italian aid workers and five other hostages, raising hopes for foreigners still in captivity.

Iraqi kidnappers tonight beheaded an American on video – but said two more Western hostages, including British man Kenneth Bigley, would have the deadline for their executions delayed by 24 hours.

An explosion rocked an area near a Jiddah branch of the Saudi-American bank today, according to early reports.

One Saudi policeman was killed and three others were wounded in clashes with militants in a town northeast of Riyadh.

One policeman was killed and three others were wounded in clashes with militants today in a town north-east of Riyadh, Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV reported.

INSURGENTS threatened to behead a kidnapped US Marine and a Pakistani driver unless the Americans release all Iraqis in “occupation jails,” according to a videotape on Arab television.

At least six Israeli soldiers were killed today when their armoured personnel carrier drove over a bomb during clashes with Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

FIERCE fighting in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah yesterday killed one American soldier and eight insurgents, casting doubt on a deal Americans had hoped would end one of their biggest problems in Iraq.

An Arab TV station showed a video today of what it said were three Italian hostages in Iraq, with their captors’ threatening to kill them.

US forces today regained control of a southern Iraqi city seized this week by a rebellious Shiite militia and resumed their offensive in Fallujah after a brief halt for talks.

Israeli soldiers killed two armed Palestinians dressed in diving gear, who attempted to infiltrate a Gaza Strip settlement from the coast in the latest in a series of failed attempts to avenge Israel’s assassination of the Hamas spiritual leader.

A car bomb which killed at least five people and wounded more than 80 in an upmarket Riyadh neighbourhood bore the hallmark of an al Qaida attack, Saudi officials said today.

The search was continuing in daylight today for two Britons feared killed in a terror attack on a residential compound in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network has reported the death toll in a car bomb attack at an Iraqi holy shrine was at least 17.

A PREVIOUSLY unknown group has said it bombed the UN headquarters in Baghdad as the UN said it was pulling a third of its staff out of Iraq.

The founding of a broadly representative governing council in Iraq has done little to stem the guerilla violence, as another US soldier was killed and six wounded when their convoy was ambushed today.

Fighting erupted in the capital of the Arab-dominated west African nation of Mauritania today in an apparent coup attempt against the country’s pro-West leader, broadcast reports said.