Soldiers and riot police used tear gas and armoured vehicles to expel hundreds of protesters from a landmark square in Bahrain’s capital.

SAUDI ARABIA has sent troops into Bahrain to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi’ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family called a declaration of war.

POLICE fired tear gas and water cannon yesterday at demonstrators protesting against Bahrain’s royal family in one of the most violent confrontations since troops killed seven protesters last month.

IT is too early to say we are witnessing the much-vaunted Arab Spring in the Middle East. The removal of Hosni Mubarak and Zine el-Abadine Ben Ali from power cannot be said to symbolise victories for democracy in Egypt, at least not at this stage. Instead, what we have seen are popular coups.

BAHRAIN’S opposition wants the nation’s rulers to guarantee they will back up their conciliatory words with actions, a Shi’ite leader said yesterday as he and other activists weighed the regime’s offer for talks after nearly a week of protests and deadly clashes that have divided the Gulf nation.

Bahrain's opposition wants the nation's rulers to guarantee they will back up their conciliatory words with actions, a Shiite leader said today.

US president Barack Obama vowed to “halt the rise of piracy” as shipmates of the rescued American freighter captain called for tough action against Somali bandits.

Snipers on a US Navy ship cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world’s most powerful military.

British sailors seized today in Iraqi territorial waters were taken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy, a radical force that operates independently from the regular Iranian Navy, a US official said.

The US Navy is launching an investigation into how a nuclear-powered submarine hit a Japanese merchant ship near the busy shipping lanes of the Straits of Hormuz.

Fighting erupted today on the outskirts of Somalia's militant Islamic movement's last remaining stronghold as thousands fled advancing Ethiopian troops supported by tanks and MiG fighter jets.

Two US Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates today off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect and wounding five others, the navy said.

The US Embassy in Bahrain urged Americans to avoid crowded areas, while in Turkey police warned of terrorist attacks against Western and Israeli interests over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

An audio tape said to be of Osama bin Laden’s top aide urging attacks on British and US diplomatic missions and businesses was played on Gulf satellite TV station al-Jazeera today.

CRUDE oil rose for the third time in four sessions as war in Iraq and civil strife in Nigeria limit shipments from the countries, which normally produce about 6% of the world’s oil.

Two gunmen killed a US marine and injured a second American during war games on a Kuwaiti island today.

US forces in Bahrain, home of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, are on a heightened state of alert in response to a security threat.