British Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his support for air strikes carried out by the United States and Arab allies on Islamic State militants in Syria.

Iraq’s parliament has officially named Haider Abadi the country’s new prime minister and approved most of his proposed cabinet.

The Arab League has agreed to combat extremists such as the Islamic State group as one of its suicide bombers killed 16 people at a meeting of Sunni tribal fighters and security troops in Iraq.

People in Damascus stocked up on supplies last night and some left homes close to potential targets as US officials sketched out plans for multi-national air strikes on Syria that could last for days.

Arab foreign ministers have offered the Syrian opposition coalition the country’s seat at the Arab League on condition that it first forms a representative executive council.

The king of Jordan is taking a personal interest in the case of three members of his country’s Paralympic team accused of sex offences during pre-Games training in Northern Ireland, a court heard yesterday.

The king of Jordan has personally intervened in the case of three members of the Jordanian Paralympic team accused of sex offences at a pre-Games training camp in the North, a Jordanian government representative has told a court.

Syria's deputy oil minister has announced his defection in an online video, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Assad's regime since the country's uprising erupted a year ago.

As tensions mounted further in Syria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby last night appointed Kofi Annan, Ban's predecessor as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

China has said it supports the Arab League’s proposals for ending the violence in Syria, in a striking show of support just two weeks after Beijing vetoed a United Nations resolution backing the plans.

China said today that an envoy has held talks with the head of the Arab League on the crisis in Syria.

The failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on Syria has encouraged Damascus to step up its assault on the opposition and launch an “indiscriminate attack” on Homs, the UN human rights chief said.

Syrian rebels have repelled a push by government tanks into a key central town held by forces fighting against President Bashar Assad’s regime, an activist group said today.

SYRIAN forces have retreated from a rebel-held town under a local ceasefire, residents said, but deadly violence raged on elsewhere as a month-long mandate for Arab peace monitors in Syria was expiring.

Syria’s president Bashar Assad has said he will respond to threats against him with an “iron hand” and refused to step down, despite the 10-month-old uprising against him.

SYRIA has said it will accept observers as part of an Arab League plan to end deadly unrest if its conditions are met, in a last-ditch bid to stave off crippling sanctions.

THE Arab League yesterday overwhelmingly approved sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus to end its eight-month crackdown on dissent, an unprecedented move by the League against an Arab state.

TENS of thousands of Syrian government supporters poured into the streets to protest an Arab League vote to suspend the country’s membership, as Turkey sent planes to evacuate diplomatic staff and their families after a night of attacks on embassies.

Tens of thousands of Syrian government supporters poured into the streets today to protest against an Arab League vote to suspend the country’s membership, as Turkey sent planes to evacuate diplomatic staff and their families after a night of attacks on embassies.

SYRIA last night fully accepted an Arab League plan to end nearly eight months of bloodshed, a League official said, although the UN chief warned that the regime still has to implement the deal as agreed.

THE dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from using US troops on Libyan soil and to let Nato take the lead in degrading Gaddafi’s military power.

More than 200 members have quit Syria’s ruling Baath party to protest at President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on opponents, a human rights activist says.

THE Arab League got back behind international military strikes against Libya yesterday after comments by its leader had indicated divisions over the campaign against Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya announced another ceasefire tonight as the country braced itself for a second night’s bombardment by allied forces.

ARAB rulers secretly lobbied America to launch air strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme according to leaked US diplomatic cables, it was reported last night.

BRITAIN’S top spy, in the first public speech by a serving espionage chief, yesterday said terrorists might hit the West again “at huge human cost”, but nuclear proliferation by states was a more far-reaching danger.

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank is saying it “stands behind” local and foreign banks operating in the country, offering them access to money in a sign the Gulf Arab nation’s federal government is racing to curtail investor fears over Dubai’s crushing debt.

Mahmoud Darwish, the world’s most recognised Palestinian poet, whose prose gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile and infighting, died today in Houston, Texas. He was 67.

ISRAEL yesterday celebrated its 60th anniversary with displays of military might and parties, as Palestinians marked the plight of hundreds of thousands who lost their land to the Jewish state.

Syrian President Bashar Assad questioned how long Arab nations can keep offering Israel a land-for-peace proposal, as the Arab League chief today called for Arabs to meet later this year to evaluate negotiations with Israel.

President George Bush is carrying "chaotic ideas" with him on his Middle East tour, which is doomed to fail, Syria said today.

ARAB countries fear the fighting in Gaza could spread to the West Bank and further destabilise the region.

Al-Qaida’s number-two leader tonight criticised the Palestinian group Hamas for agreeing to respect past agreements with Israel as part of an accord to form a national unity government.

The Iraqi government and Arab countries are engaged in bitter squabbling on the eve of a Baghdad conference that America hoped would finally unite them in efforts to stabilise the war-torn nation.

Support for Saddam Hussein across the Arab world has grown since his execution, galvanising anger against Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which the United States has hoped the region would support.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said today that a peace initiative proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was a “positive” step toward peacemaking.

At least 20 people were killed and dozens more were wounded when snipers opened fire from rooftops and a cemetery in a series of attacks on a Shiite religious procession in Baghdad.

PROTESTERS, angered by the Israeli air strike in Qana that killed up to 50 refugees, broke into the main UN building in Beirut yesterday, burning UN and American flags.

The Hezbollah representative in Iran struck a defiant tone today, warning that his militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israel until “no place” is safe for Israelis.

US REPORTS suggest Washington has been asked to rush a shipment of precision bombs sold as part of a deal with Israel last year.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected the “false promise” of an immediate ceasefire in the spreading war between Israel and Hezbollah and says she would seek long-term peace during a trip to the Middle East beginning tomorrow.

Shooting has resumed on Hollywood legend Marlon Brando's last ever movie.

The new Hamas government has prepared an emergency plan for its first three months of rule, and is to discuss it at its first Cabinet meeting today, the deputy Palestinian prime minister said.

Arab and Islamic governments should pressure the United Nations to ban the slandering of religions, said more than 200 Arab politicians who renewed their criticism today of the contentious Prophet Muhammad cartoons.