Troops were deployed to protect key areas of Nepal’s capital Katmandu today – a day after police clashed in the streets with protesting communists who are demanding that the president back the firing of the country’s army chief.

NEPAL’S prime minister fired the army chief yesterday after accusing him of defying government orders, prompting a key party to quit the coalition government and plunging the Himalayan country into a political crisis that could endanger its peace process.

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif today warned that the country was moving towards a state of political crisis.

Israelis would vote Ehud Olmert out of office if elections were held now, polls indicated today, as the defiant prime minister defended his performance in the Lebanon war and lashed out at his critics.

The tiny west African nation of Gambia said it foiled plans by top military officials to overthrow the government, arresting six army officers as President Yahya Jammeh cut short an overseas trip.

ISRAEL’S top military prosecutor has opened an investigation into a platoon commander who soldiers accuse of emptying an ammunition clip into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to ensure she was dead.

Israel’s top military prosecutor has opened an investigation into a platoon commander whom soldiers accuse of emptying an ammunition clip into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to ensure she was dead.

DESPITE a massive Israeli offensive to prevent rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinian militants fired two rockets yesterday at the Israeli town of Sderot, as fighting killed at least six Palestinians.

Police gunned down scores of machete-wielding militants who stormed more than a dozen security outposts, the bloodiest day yet in Thailand’s troubled Muslim-dominated south. The death toll stood at least 112.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and combat helicopters raided the West Bank town of Jenin today, sparking a gun battle that killed a Palestinian woman in her home.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus yesterday, killing eight people and wounding 59 in an attack Israeli officials said proved the need for the disputed separation barrier it is building.