Thousands of Sunni Muslims fled a Syrian coastal town today, a day after reports circulated that dozens of people, including children, had been killed by pro-government gunmen in the area, activists said.

The Book of Fate

Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist made his name. His third novel reflects his return to the centre of his extended family, says Sue Leonard

A doctor who lost his wife and four children in a suspected arson attack on their home "fought hard" to save them, British police said.

A blunder by the Egyptian army that left 16 border guards dead at the hands of Islamist militants gave president Mohamed Morsi an early chance to claw back powers from a military whose political influence he had always wanted to curb.

TUNISIA’S political earthquake has shattered the cosy world of entrenched Arab rulers and destroyed the image of their military-backed regimes as immune to popular discontent and grievances.

Afghanistan president Hamid Mr Karzai today promised to root out his government’s endemic corruption in an inauguration speech made under intense pressure to shed the cronyism and graft that marked his first term.

Atonement, the Arctic Monkeys, and Turner Prize-winner Mark Wallinger have been nominated for the 12th annual South Bank Show awards.

The bodies of 14 Sunni Arabs who had been kidnapped from their homes in Baghdad by men disguised as policemen were found in the capital on this morning, Iraqi authorities said.

ANOUSHEH Ansari, the world’s first female paying space tourist, returned to Earth yesterday after 11 days in space capped by the bone-jarring journey home from the international space station.

A suicide bomber blew himself up among mourners at a funeral in Saddam Hussein’s hometown today, killing at least 10 people and injuring another 18, police said.

Chad broke off diplomatic relations with neighbouring Sudan today, escalating tensions between the two African nations a day after a deadly rebel attack on the capital ended with at least 350 people dead.

An Indonesian court today sentenced the alleged mastermind of 2002 bombing of a McDonald’s restaurant to life in prison, saying the Islamic militant planned the attack that came just weeks after the Bali nightclub attacks.

At least 17 bodies have been found scattered in separate locations near a town close to the Syrian border that is considered an insurgent hotbed, with one group of 11 shot in the head and another beheaded.

US troops detained the head of Iraq's largest Sunni Muslim political party during a house raid in western Baghdad today, a top party official and police said.

A bomb hidden in an Iraqi police minibus exploded as it reached a checkpoint in Saddam Hussein's home town today, killing at least seven policemen and wounding eight.

A former Scottish soccer boss is to replace the chief executive of car accessories and cycle retailer Halfords, it was announced today.

The news of the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was greeted by dancing in the streets and celebratory gunfire by the people of Baghdad, according to reports.

IRAQI police opened fire in downtown Baghdad yesterday after demonstrators demanding jobs stormed a police station and threw stones at officers, police said. At least one demonstrator was injured in the shooting.

Indonesian police say they have arrested the alleged mastermind of the McDonald's bombing.

Tribal commanders fighting al-Qaida troops in Afghanistan’s White Mountains said today they had abandoned another plan for bin Laden’s men to disarm and surrender.

US airstrikes have intensified dramatically and Afghan tribal fighters have launched a new ground assault against trapped al-Qaida forces.

Kabul’s markets opened as usual today, just hours after the US military strikes, as people emerged from their homes to survey the effects.