Three Palestinians were killed and 20 other people wounded by Israeli gunfire when tanks and armoured vehicles entered the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border today, hospital officials said.

EGYPTIAN Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was attacked by Muslim extremists as he prayed yesterday at one of Islam’s holiest sites, the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Egypt’s foreign minister, on a peace mission to Israel, was rushed to hospital after being attacked today by Muslims at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Egypt’s foreign minister was due in Israel today to try to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

ISRAELI troops conducted a series of raids in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, arresting a Hamas leader and killing a five-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli troops raided the West Bank city of Nablus today, arresting a Hamas leader, Palestinian witnesses said.

Faced with furious criticism from the US and Europe over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s assertion that Jews rule the world, Malaysia apologised today for any misunderstanding and claimed that no offence was intended.

YASSER ARAFAT yesterday dismissed the US veto of a UN resolution against Israel's threats to expel him, saying the step will not "shake us".

ISRAEL arrested more than 130 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, targeting Hamas as the Palestinian government awaited word on whether the Islamic militant group would agree to a ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was still planning to visit Saudi Arabia today despite a series of explosions in the capital that targeted Westerners and the headquarters of a joint US-Saudi owned company.

US President George Bush has offered to extend US free-trade benefits already enjoyed by Israel and Jordan to other Middle East nations within a decade.

A 16-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed today in the Gaza Strip and another one was wounded as they neared a border fence on the way home from school, witnesses and hospital officials said.

IRAQI President Saddam Hussein yesterday called an emergency session of parliament to consider the UN resolution to disarm, while Arab ministers indicated he was ready to accept the document.

Iraq is expected to accept a UN resolution to disarm, Egypt’s foreign minister said early today.

Accusing British prime minister Tony Blair of lying to justify an attack, Iraq tonight dismissed his dossier that accuses Saddam Hussein of pursuing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Iraq branded as baseless Tony Blair’s dossier designed to convince war-wary British MPs that Saddam Hussein is pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

AMERICA and Britain were isolated last night as world leaders backed Iraq’s decision to admit UN weapons inspectors without conditions.

An Israeli government official today accused Egypt of trying to meddle in politics – bringing into the open a rift over Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s overtures to the Israeli left and his harsh criticism of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

THE air strike which killed 15 Palestinians and obliterated a three-story building and destroyed or badly damaged several adjacent ones, came as Palestinian and Israeli political leaders were discussing ways to relieve tensions in the West Bank.

US secretary of state Colin Powell was expecting to win broad approval from Arab, European, Russian and United Nations leaders today on an ‘‘action plan’’ to help the Palestinian people over the next three years.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister is due to visit Israel to help quell Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Arab leaders hailed the US President for his endorsement of a Palestinian state, with the king of Morocco calling the remark a milestone in the peace process.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held unscheduled talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Cairo today after assuring the Egyptian president that his government planned no major assault on the Palestinians.