Malmo 1 Rangers 1 (Malmo win 2-1 on aggregate)

RANGERS’ Champions League hopes are hanging in the balance after they suffered defeat to Swedish outfit Malmo at Ibrox last night.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist handed Lee Wallace his debut in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie against Malmo at Ibrox.

The Iraq Football Association have sacked coach Adnan Hamad following the team’s failure to progress to the final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

At least three Iraqis were killed and a child was injured after American soldiers stormed a tiny one-room house north of Baghdad and opened fire.

A Lebanese man was jailed for 12 years today for last year’s failed attempt to bomb German trains, judicial officials and the defence lawyer said.

The Al Aqsa TV and radio stations, allied with Hamas, came under fire from Palestinian security forces today, employees said.

Hamas gunmen opened fire on forces of the rival Fatah yesterday, injuring at least six people throughout the Gaza Strip.

Hamas gunmen opened fire today on forces of the rival Fatah, injuring at least six people throughout the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today warned that Israel would be forced to act if Palestinian militants on Gaza continue to fire rockets at Israel - though he hoped to avert a new conflict.

A senior British diplomat and BBC officials met Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and moderate President Mahmoud Abbas today to push for the release of a BBC journalist kidnapped three weeks ago.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today rejected US plans to establish a provisional Palestinian state in temporary borders, a key part of the “road map” peace plan.

PALESTINIAN negotiators last night said a deal on a unity government could be days away, but that it might be delayed by difficulties in working out a parallel prisoner swap with Israel.

Gunmen raided the Baghdad offices of a new Sunni-Arab television station today, killing four guards and four technicians, police said.

Palestinian Cabinet ministers from Hamas handed in their resignations today, a step toward forming a unity government with the moderate Fatah.

Hamas officials today gave Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the go-ahead for negotiations with Israel, a major shift in the militant Islamic group’s position toward the Jewish state as it worked to end its international isolation.

The US proposes deploying international observers at the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza to prevent repeated security closures of Gaza’s economic lifeline, Palestinian and Israeli officials said today.

Palestinian officials said today they expected to have “good news” about the two Fox News journalists kidnapped in Gaza City within two days and believe they are unharmed.

German police arrested a third suspect today in connection with a failed attempt to blow up two trains, and Lebanese authorities picked up a fourth man as the investigation gathered steam, officials said.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today agreed to start negotiations on forming a broader government, a government spokesman said.

Israeli aircraft blasted the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas early today, the latest military move aimed at winning freedom for an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today ruled out negotiations with the Palestinian captors of an Israeli soldier, promising a “broad and ongoing” military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government has agreed to withdraw its private militia from public areas of Gaza in an agreement with the rival Fatah movement aimed at halting weeks of bloody infighting.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas put himself on a collision course with Hamas after blocking the party’s plan to set up a security force of 4,000 militants.

The new Hamas-led Palestinian government is quietly working to end an upsurge in violence, urging rival militant groups in the Gaza Strip to refrain from launching rockets at Israel without official permission, officials on both sides confirmed today.

The ruling Fatah Party and the Islamic Hamas group today made impassioned last-minute appeals for support on the final day of campaigning in the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Riot police fought with voters, firing tear gas and bullets that killed one person, as the state barred polling stations in opposition strongholds in the third and final round of Egypt's legislative elections.

The winner of Zanzibar’s disputed election appealed for peace today as the Indian Ocean archipelago celebrated the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan after days of political violence.

Kidnappers holding a seven-year-old Lebanese boy have threatened to behead him if they do not receive £38,000 (€54,592) by Saturday, his father said today.

Israel withdrew tanks and troops from Palestinian neighbourhoods in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron today, in a fresh attempt to breathe life into a truce negotiated under US pressure.