Green Party leader John Gormley is likely to come under pressure today to state whether he has full confidence in Defense Minister Willie O'Dea.

Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has today apologised to Sinn Féin Councillor Maurice Quinlivan for making false and defamatory comments contained in a newspaper article earlier this year.

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today warned Israel it would be uprooted if the Jewish state attacked Lebanon in the coming summer.

Israel prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz faced new calls to resign today after Israel’s army chief stepped down, succumbing to widespread outrage over the handling of last summer’s inconclusive war in Lebanon.

Israeli aircraft early today bombarded open areas and roads in northern Gaza that the military said Palestinian militants used to launch rocket attacks on nearby southern Israel.

Israel is proposing a dual crossing between Gaza and Egypt to allow for free exit from Gaza but control over goods entering the territory, Israeli defence officials said today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a last-minute appeal to voters in his Likud Party to support his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, saying that rejection in a party referendum today would threaten the country’s future.

Police and paramilitary forces in New Delhi have fired shots at the gates to the Indian Parliament after an explosion.

The Ukrainian Navy has been ordered to start searching the Black Sea for remains of missiles thought to have hit a Russian airliner.

After a round of shuttle diplomacy by the new US Mideast envoy, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to resume talks on security cooperation today, but the scope of the negotiations wasn’t clear.