A Palestinian man stabbed 11 people on and near a bus in central Tel Aviv, seriously wounding three of them before he was shot and arrested by Israeli police.

Israel has resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip, ending a self-declared, seven-hour ceasefire that was in effect for much of the day.

The condition of comatose former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has taken a turn for the worse, according to media reports.

Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when travelling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customised bed on a flight to London, officials close to the Israeli leader said.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when travelling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customised bed on a recent flight to London, officials close to the Israeli leader said.

Thai police said today that two Iranian suspects arrested in Bangkok were probably planning to attack individuals, but did not have the capacity to target large crowds or buildings.

A Palestinian took hostages in the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv today after shots were fired outside in an incident that appeared to have only an indirect link to recent tensions between the two countries.

PALESTINIAN officials yesterday rallied round a top aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after a video surfaced showing him in an alleged attempt to trade his influence for sex.

Palestinian officials today rallied round a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after a video surfaced showing him in an alleged attempt to trade his influence for sex.

Israel’s military said tonight that ground forces are crossing the Gaza border, in an expansion of Israel’s week-old offensive against Hamas.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has formally resigned this evening after handing a letter of resignation to president Shimon Peres.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of illegally accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an American citizen, Moshe Talansky, Israeli media reported tonight.

A GUNMAN infiltrated a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem and opened fire in a library last night, killing at least seven people, officials said.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up next to Israel’s fortified nuclear reactor, killing a woman and wounding 11 people in the first such attack in more than a year.

Gaza City awoke today to shuttered bread shops and petrol stations today as Israel pressed ahead with efforts to stop Palestinian rocket fire, refusing to reopen crossings or allow in crucial fuel supplies.

Gaza’s only electrical plant shut down today after Israel blocked the shipment of fuel that powers them.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to begin tackling the core issues of a final peace agreement in a last-minute push to breathe life into stalled negotiations before US president George Bush's arrival in the Middle East today.

Four Hamas police officers were killed and two wounded tonight when a car exploded outside a Hamas security headquarters building in Gaza City, hospital and security officials said.

Candid TV footage of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Italian counterpart, Romano Prodi, showed Olmert coaching Prodi on what to say at their joint press conference in Rome.

A 64-year-old grandmother became the oldest Palestinian suicide bomber when she blew herself up near Israeli troops.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav should be charged with rape, police recommended today, according to Channel 10 TV in Israel.

An armed Palestinian man burst into the British Embassy in Tel Aviv today demanding political asylum, saying in a dramatic interview on live television that he would rather die than return to the West Bank.

WHEN the fighting is over, both Israel and Hezbollah are likely to declare victory, but the truth will be far more complicated.

Hezbollah fighters battled today to stop Israeli forces from capturing the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbail, where Arab TV stations reported that up to 12 Israeli soldiers had been killed.

Hezbollah fired at least 10 rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa today, and one hit a city bus and another a house.

Israel, pressured by international alarm over a brewing Palestinian humanitarian crisis, has agreed to release millions of pounds in funds it has withheld from the Palestinians and is considering easing restrictions on the transport of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians were lining up at petrol stations for a few more gallons before fuel runs out. Their government couldn’t pay the bill, and so the Israeli petrol company cut off supplies, a direct result of economic sanctions aimed at the Hamas-led regime.

Russia has launched a satellite for Israel that the Israelis say will be used to spy on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Three nearly simultaneous bombings hit a Egyptian beach resort popular with foreigners yesterday, killing at least 23 people on streets filled with holiday-makers and Egyptians enjoying a long weekend marking a national holiday.

DOZENS were feared killed after last night’s bomb attack hit an Egyptian resort at the height of the tourist season.

Three terrorist bombs tonight hit the Egyptian resort of Dahab at the height of the tourist season, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 150.

Three explosions tonight rocked the Egyptian resort city of Dahab at the height of the tourist season, killing at least 18 people and wounding more 150 at just one hotel, according to police and rescuers.

Israel began tightening security a day before its crucial election, as acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert explained his plan to withdraw unilaterally from large parts of the West Bank, and opponents attacked his idea and his party.

Israeli forces driving bulldozers and firing tank shells burst into a Palestinian prison in the West Bank town of Jericho today and pulled out dozens of inmates in their underwear in a raid targeting a group of prisoners linked to the killing an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Israeli forces burst into a jail today in the West Bank town of Jericho, demanding the surrender of prisoners, including the mastermind of the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister.

Israeli forces burst into a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho today, demanding the surrender of prisoners, including the mastermind of the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned against considering all Palestinians as Israel's enemies after the violent Islamic Hamas won a parliamentary election in January.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said today he sets Palestinian policy, and is willing to talk to Israel at any time and about any subject.

Israeli might have been better off when Saddam Hussein was in power in Iraq, said Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin, according to a tape recording broadcast Monday by Channel 10 TV in Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s doctors came under criticism today for failing to divulge a brain disease discovered after an initial, mild stroke suffered by the prime minister and for prescribing drugs that may have been inappropriate for a patient suffering from it, possibly causing his second, massive stroke.

Israel returned to politics today while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was improving, but still comatose in a hospital a week after a massive stroke.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s doctors today hoped to remove the prime minister from all remaining sedatives after he moved his left hand for the first time, but hospital officials cautioned against being overly optimistic about his chances for recovery from a massive stroke.

Ariel Sharon’s centrist Kadima party would easily win March 28 Israeli elections, despite the increasingly dim chance that he will head the movement after suffering a massive stroke, according to two new opinion polls.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was returned to the operating room today after a brain scan revealed he required more treatment following “massive, widespread” bleeding in his brain.