A Libyan opposition leader says the rebels will accept a UN-demanded ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending a special envoy to Libya on an urgent mission to try to end the escalating violence and ensure humanitarian aid gets through.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II today pressed the need to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid renewed calls for peace during a crucial two-day visit by US President George Bush that also was set to include talks with Iraq’s prime minister.

About 70 victims of a mass kidnapping at an office of the Higher Education Ministry have been released, a ministry spokesman said today, but officials were unable to say how many remained captive.

The Iraqi prime minister's office said only 45 to 50 people had been kidnapped in a lightning raid on a Baghdad higher education office today, and 20 of them had been released.

UNDERCOVER Israeli troops raided an internet cafe in the West Bank yesterday and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian man during a gunbattle, witnesses and medics said.