Gunmen attacked two Shiite families in a largely Sunni area south of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, killing 16, officials said today.

A wave of car bombs in Baghdad has killed 32 people and wounded dozens, the latest attacks in a months-long surge in violence.

A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate in Iraq’s upcoming regional elections, killing 20 people, officials said.

At least five people were killed when militants wearing suicide vests and disguised as policemen attacked the office of a senior political official in north-western Pakistan today, police and hospital officials said.

A series of car bombs exploded within minutes of each other as Iraqis were out shopping in and around Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 35 people in mainly Shiite areas.

A teenager has been killed in street clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in Bahrain.

A wave of bombings has left at least 43 people dead in Iraq.

Three people have been killed and dozens injured as protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis infuriated by an anti-Islam film descended into deadly violence.

Syria’s prime minister completed his defection by crossing into Jordan at dawn today after two days of hiding inside his homeland, according to Jordanian officials and a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Fourteen people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a double bombing at a busy market in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad.

At least 10 people have been injured when a suicide car bomb exploded in a Damascus suburb and damaged one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

Riot police in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenades today as tens of thousands of protesters staged the biggest anti-government demonstrations in weeks in the divided Gulf nation.

At least 32 people have died in a suicide car bomb attack near a funeral procession in Baghdad.

Fourteen people were killed and more than 75 injured in a wave of car bombings across Baghdad today as violence surges in Iraq amid an escalating political crisis a month after the US military withdrawal.

A wave of 16 bombings ripped across Baghdad today, killing at least 69 people in the worst violence in Iraq for months.

SO, after almost a decade during which the US covered itself in disgrace with their misconceived and mishandled war in Iraq, the curtain has finally fallen on this long-running, blood-soaked farce.

Iraq’s Sunni vice president wanted by the Shiite-led government for allegedly ordering hit squads against government officials has said he is innocent of any charges.

Clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors in the country’s north west killed four people today, while gunmen shot dead a political activist in the latest in a wave of targeted killings in a rebellious central city, activists said.

Suspected Sunni extremists opened fire on Shiite Muslims travelling through south-western Pakistan today, killing 13 people and injuring seven others in the latest apparent sectarian attack to hit the country, police said.

Twin car bombings in northern Iraq, and separate attacks on the homes of a schoolteacher and a human rights activist left at least 11 people dead today, government officials said.

A day-long clash between militants from Afghanistan who crossed the border and attacked a Pakistani checkpoint left 23 troops and 35 insurgents dead, police said today, underlining the challenges facing Pakistan as it tries to stamp out insurgents in its north-west.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing seven people, according to officials.

Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas at pro-democracy demonstrations across the country today, killing at least 49 people – including a young boy – in the bloodiest day of the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime, witnesses and a human rights group said.

Soldiers and riot police in Bahrain overran a protesters’ camp, imposed a 12-hour curfew and choked off movement in this tiny island kingdom that has been rocked by a month of protests.

Hundreds of police have deployed in the Saudi capital ahead of planned protests calling for democratic reforms.

The leader of Hezbollah defended the decision to bring down Lebanon’s Western-backed government, saying the Shiite militant group did so without resorting to violence and will not be intimidated by world reaction.

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led several Shiite uprisings against American forces in Iraq before travelling to neighbouring Iran three years ago, has returned to Iraq.

Iraq’s president has declared that he will not sign off on the hanging of Tariq Aziz, joining the Vatican and others in objecting to the death sentence for the man who for years was the international face of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Iraqi MPs approved an agreement that aims to bring all of Iraq's feuding political blocs into a new government led by Shiite prime minister Nouri Maliki.

A suicide bomber attacked a hospital in the south-west Pakistani city of Quetta today, killing at least seven people, as Shiite Muslims gathered to mourn a murdered bank manager.

Iranian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital today, killing at least four people and injuring two others, according to opposition websites and witnesses.

A suicide bomber struck an area full of government buildings in Pakistan’s main north-west city today, killing four people and underscoring that militant groups retain strength despite being under siege by the army.

A booby-trapped motorcycle exploded in a crowded bazaar today in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people, Iraqi officials said, part of an apparent trend toward increased use of motorcycles to thwart stepped up security measures.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard today threatened to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election.

A female suicide bomber killed at least 30 people and injured more than 50 others when she detonated an explosive vest among a group of pilgrims in Baghdad, Iraqi police said today.

Police say a blast at the funeral of a Shiite Muslim cleric has killed at least six people in northwestern Pakistan.

AN OIL refinery in Iraq’s western desert has resumed production, the government said yesterday, as part of an outreach to an area once controlled by Sunni insurgents.

The Iraqi government is refusing to execute Saddam Hussein’s henchman and cousin known as “Chemical Ali” unless the executions of two other associates are also approved.

Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf was accused today of delaying elections to avoid defeat.

Britain’s weekend handover of Basra province will have a limited effect on security in Iraq’s biggest oil region because rival Shiite warlords and local officials have been wielding the real power in the area.

A parked car bomb exploded in a crowded area near a medical complex in Baghdad today, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 30, officials said. It was the latest in an increase in violence in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

American troops could remain mired in Middle East conflicts for another 50 years, a leading former commander has warned.

The US military believes that five British security guards kidnapped in May in Baghdad are still alive, the No 2 American commander in Iraq said today.

Iraq’s prime minister today said he expects the US ambassador and military commander to give his government favourable marks when they report to Congress next week and predicted passage of a law soon that could return more Sunnis to government jobs.