Israel’s Shimon Peres has met secretly with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan, the prime minister’s office confirmed today.

Three explosions rocked a residential area of a northern Israeli town tonight, the army said. No injuries were reported.

A group of elderly Holocaust survivors came forward yesterday with accounts of a death squad they formed after World War II to take revenge on their Nazi persecutors, recounting a brazen operation in which they poisoned hundreds of SS officers.

Bill Clinton says he has a good candidate in mind for the 2008 United States presidential election: his wife.

Bill Clinton says he has a good candidate in mind for the 2008 United States presidential election: his wife.

Yasser Arafat is in a “reversible coma” but not brain dead, his spokeswoman said today amid reports about the 75-year-old Palestinian leader’s condition.

Israel will permit Yasser Arafat to be buried in the Gaza Strip, but not in Jerusalem, an Israeli Cabinet minister said today, as the Palestinian leader lay gravely ill in a Paris hospital.

An Israeli Cabinet minister said today it was ``clear'' Yasser Arafat was brain dead and was being kept on a life support machine.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is in intensive care undergoing a new round of tests today after his still-unexplained condition took a sudden turn for the worse.

An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of gunmen in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza after nightfall last night, killing one and wounding seven, in the second air strike of the day as a large-scale military operation continued.

ISRAEL accused Syria yesterday of “directing terrorism” and warned it could face pre-emptive strikes against militants on its territory, but stopped short of saying it killed a Hamas leader in Damascus.

Israel’s attorney general is about to drop a bribery case against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli TV stations reported tonight.

America said today it would oppose any Israeli strike against Yasser Arafat, after Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said he was no longer bound by a promise to Washington not to harm the Palestinian leader.

The Israeli Justice Ministry was today considering whether to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for allegedly accepting bribes, forcing him to step down, after charges were brought against a close associate.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be questioned by police later this week in connection with two corruption probes, it was reported today.

Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, gave a troubled country something to cheer about when he blasted off on January 16 on the space shuttle Columbia.

Two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up seconds apart in a crowded, old part of Tel Aviv where foreign workers live, killing 23 bystanders and wounding more than 100, ending a lull in such attacks just three weeks before Israeli elections.

TWO suicide bombers blew themselves up minutes apart last night in a central Tel Aviv area crowded with foreign workers, killing at least 15 bystanders and wounding nearly 40.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up minutes apart today in a central Tel Aviv area crowded with foreign workers, killing at least 15 bystanders and wounding nearly 40 in the first such attack since November.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in downtown Tel Aviv today, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens of others, police said.

Suspected Islamic terrorists crashed a large car bomb into a resort hotel filled with Israelis in Kenya today, killing 11 tourists and staff.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the two had died in the apparent suicide attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel, but could not confirm other reports putting the death toll as high as eight.

ISRAEL’S Labour Party held a ballot of its members yesterday to pick a new leader.

Israeli troops backed by tanks retook all of Hebron today – blindfolding Palestinian suspects and herding them into army buses – after gunmen lured security forces into a dead-end alley and killed 12 with a barrage of bullets and grenades.

Confined to a tiny section of his largely demolished command centre, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has refused to hand over members of his entourage wanted by Israel.

Explosions rocked Yasser Arafat’s besieged headquarters today, including one blast that showered the Palestinian leader with debris, as Israeli troops flattened every main building around him with explosives, tanks and bulldozers.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that for the first time in nearly two years of fighting, he sees the possibility of a negotiated deal with the Palestinians.

Seven people were killed and 25 injured today when Palestinians detonated a roadside bomb near an armoured bus and then sprayed automatic fire at passengers as they tried to flee, police said.

At least five people were killed today when a bomb exploded as a bus was passing a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Several more were injured, said police.

A Palestinian activist was killed today when the public telephone he was using exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinians immediately blamed Israel for the attack.