An Iranian mother spared the life of her son’s convicted murderer with an emotional slap in the face as he awaited execution with the noose around his neck, a newspaper reported.

A killer in Iran has been spared by his victim’s mother as he stood ready for execution, because her dead son appeared to the woman in a dream.

Israel linked West Bank Palestinians with the al-Qaida network for the first time today when a military court charged two youths with receiving funds from the jihad group to carry out a co-ordinated double bombing in Jerusalem.

An Israeli helicopter fired four missiles at a van, killing two members of the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip today and wounding two people, witnesses and rescue workers said.