A Syrian woman and her two young sons who drowned on a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece were buried in their hometown of Kobani, returning to the conflict-torn Syrian Kurdish region they had fled.

The family of two small boys whose bodies washed up on a Turkish beach were Syrian refugees who had been trying to emigrate to Canada, according to reports.

Burgundian will be aimed at the UAE 2000 Guineas and Derby after breaking his duck at the third attempt in a seven-furlong maiden race at Nad Al Sheba in Dubai tonight.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, suffering from a serious but mystery illness, arrived in France today for urgent treatment – ending nearly three years of Israeli-imposed confinement at his battered West Bank compound.

Yasser Arafat’s blood tests revealed a low platelet count, his doctors said today, in the first official statement on the Palestinian leader’s medical condition.