The No 2 US commander in Iraq today said a 7-month-old security operation has reduced violence by 50% in Baghdad but he acknowledged that civilians were still dying at too high a rate.

Israel has accepted calls to investigate a 2002 air strike on a Gaza City building, where a one-ton bomb killed not only a top Hamas operative and his bodyguard, but also 13 civilians, the justice ministry announced today.

US President George Bush today accused Democrats of conducting a political debate on the war in Iraq while delaying action on money to upgrade equipment and give US troops a pay raise.

Tensions rose in Thailand today as ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a video address to supporters who have been holding daily protests against the country’s coup leaders, and said he was being persecuted by those who replaced him.

Suspected al-Qaida bombers have toppled the towering minarets of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine, dealing a bold blow to Iraqi hopes for peace and reopening old wounds a year after the mosque's Golden Dome was destroyed.

Israel’s army received approval today to broaden its ground operations against Gaza Strip militants who have been barraging Israeli border towns with deadly rocket fire, but no large-scale incursion is in the works, military officials said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he did not believe there was "any option" but to strike Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas after they attacked Israel, according to minutes of his war inquiry testimony released today.

A fire destroyed a shanty town in downtown Cairo on today, leaving about 1,000 people homeless, police and fire fighters said.

The outgoing top US general in Iraq told politicians that president George Bush has ordered thousands more troops than are needed to clamp down on violence in Baghdad.

The new commander of the Israeli army will be reserve general Gabi Ashkenazi, the government said today.

Israel intends to destroy Hezbollah’s tunnels, hideouts, weapons stashes and other assets during its expected land incursions into southern Lebanon.

DESPITE a massive Israeli offensive to prevent rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinian militants fired two rockets yesterday at the Israeli town of Sderot, as fighting killed at least six Palestinians.

The US-led coalition officially ordered Iraqis today to disarm by mid-June, part of a high-profile effort to get weapons off the streets and return public security to cities under American occupation.

PALESTINIAN militants pose a “cancer-like” threat to Israel and must be defeated at all costs, Israel’s new army chief has said.