Beijing intensified efforts at the weekend to pull China’s stock markets out of a nosedive that is threatening the world’s second-largest economy, with top brokerages pledging to buy massive amounts of shares and a report that the government has set up a market stabilisation fund.

Iraqi officials say they believe government forces have killed the last remaining Saddam Hussein henchman on the run in Iraq.

An aid helicopter has crashed in northern Iraq while delivering supplies to the Sinjar mountains, according to Iraq state TV.

Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighbourhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire, leaving four paramedics wounded as a ceasefire faltered.

Egyptian security forces backed by armoured fighting vehicles and helicopters have stormed a town known to be an Islamist stronghold outside Cairo near the Great Pyramids, coming under barrages of fire from gunmen on rooftops.

Syrian state media says the government has reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow a UN team of experts to visit the site of last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on protesters marching in support of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, killing at least one and wounding several more.

A car bombing near Syria’s ruling party headquarters in Damascus has killed 53 people, according to state media, while mortar rounds exploded near the army’s central command in the city.

A large explosion has shaken central Damascus, near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy.

Egypt’s controversial Islamist-backed constitution has been approved, according to preliminary referendum results released by the country’s Muslim Brotherhood today.

Thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president clashed with his supporters in cities across the country today, burning several offices of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A bomb has exploded outside a mosque in the Syrian capital Damascus, causing casualties, reports say.

Egypt formally asked the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan today, seeking a desperately needed rescue package for its faltering economy but raising the possibility of painful restructuring in a country still reeling since its revolution more than 18 months ago.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the East African nation's long-time ruler, has died. He was 57.

Rebels penetrated the heart of Syria's power elite, detonating a bomb inside a crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three leaders of the regime, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law and the Defence Minister Dawoud Rajha.

Nato’s governing body will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Syrian downing of a Turkish plane, a spokesman said today.

Turkey has called for an extraordinary Nato meeting over the downing of its plane by Syria in international airspace, according to state television.

Ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s health has taken a turn for the worst and he is likely to be moved out of his prison hospital to a military facility nearby, a prison official said today.

At least 73 people have died in clashes after a football match in Egypt, state TV says.

Divers searching the capsized Costa Concordia last night pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest and retrieved a safe and documents belonging to the ship's captain.

Forty people have been confirmed killed and around 100 wounded in twin suicide car bombings in Damascus, the Syrian government said today.

Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers swept into Cairo’s Tahrir Square today, chasing protesters and beating them to the ground with sticks and throwing journalists’ TV cameras off balconies in the second day of a violent crackdown on anti-military protesters that has left nine dead and hundreds injured.

Hard-line Iranian students stormed the British Embassy in Tehran today, tearing down the Union flag and throwing documents from windows in scenes reminiscent of the anger against Western powers after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square today to dismantle a protest tent camp, setting off intense clashes which injured at least 507 people.

Syria has agreed “in principle” to allow an observer mission into the country, a senior official in Damascus said today, as fresh anti-government protests erupted and France called for the UN to act against President Bashar Assad.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey today, collapsing dozens of buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete. Desperate survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and injured.

A government crackdown on two Syrian towns in the country’s centre and south killed at least 33 people, including an 11-year-old girl shot dead by troops during a fierce shelling, activists have said.

Yemen’s embattled president agreed tonight to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.

Muammar Gaddafi’s forces increased their shelling of rebels outside a strategic eastern city today as they attempted to stop them from taking advantage of the international air campaign.

Heavy shelling by Colonel Gaddafi's forces has forced dozens of opposition fighters to flee from rebel held territory this afternoon.

SOLDIERS opened fire yesterday on thousands of protesters defying a government ban and streaming toward the landmark square that had been the symbolic centre of the uprising to break the political grip of the Gulf nation’s leaders.

State TV says President Mubarak is meeting with his vice president at his palace.

Egypt’s military has stepped in to “safeguard the country” and assured protesters that President Hosni Mubarak will meet their demands.

The Egyptian military’s supreme council has announced on state TV its “support of the legitimate demands of the people”.

The top leadership body of Egypt’s ruling party, including the president’s son Gamal Mubarak, resigned today, state TV reported.

An explosion has gone off at a gas compressor station in Egypt’s northern Sinai Peninsula, triggering a huge fire along the gas pipeline, Egyptian media and witnesses said.

Another bout of heavy gunfire and clashes erupted around dusk tonight in the Cairo square at the centre of Egypt’s anti-government chaos.

Tunisian teachers went on strike today as part of growing protests demanding supporters of the overthrown president be kept out of the new government.

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake rattled central Serbia overnight, killing at least two people and injuring 50.

North Korea said its biggest political gathering in 30 years was under way today and crucial developments were expected, hours after leader Kim Jong Il appointed his youngest son as a military general in what was seen as part of a succession plan.

A handmade grenade exploded near President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s convoy in western Iran today, but the leader was not harmed, according to reports.

ITALIAN police confiscated 70,000 balls of mozzarella in Turin after consumers noticed the milky-white cheese quickly developed a bluish tint when the package was opened, authorities said.

Iran is designing a new atomic research reactor in another snub to international efforts to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, officials in Tehran said today.

A man punched Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the face at a rally in Milan and the leader was whisked away in a car after falling to the ground, according to news reports in Italy.