Israel’s military deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank after a drive-by shooting by suspected Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler couple in front of their children as they were driving home.

The trial of satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer on a charge of “illegitimate sexual relations falling short of adultery” after they shook hands is “clearly politically motivated”, Amnesty International said today.

There are a growing number of forgers capitalising on refugees’ needs for civil documents such as birth certificates and passports. And they don’t come cheap, writes Tania Karas

Dozens of people from the Middle East have reached the Greek island of Kos from nearby Turkey, joining thousands already camped in wretched conditions.

IS has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in which the two gunmen were killed.

Police shot dead a gunman yesterday whose attacks on a Copenhagen synagogue and an event promoting free speech may have been inspired by an attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo last month, authorities said.

Police and the FBI are trying to determine whether the killing of three Muslims during a neighbourhood parking and noise dispute was a hate crime.

The first edition of Charlie Hebdo published after last week’s deadly attack by Islamist gunmen sold out within minutes at newspaper kiosks around France, with readers queuing up for copies to support the satirical weekly.

One of the surviving members of Charlie Hebdo’s staff said the cover of the first edition since the massacre should help “open the door to forgiveness” for the terrorists who killed her colleagues.

Paris made the Charlie Hebdo journal an honorary citizen and the creator of Asterix offered to draw for it as support poured in for the satirical publication decimated by Islamist gunmen for mocking the prophet Mohammad.

Ó Ríordáin ‘expects’ referendum on blasphemy this year

The French satirical magazine where the shooting took place has a history of causing controversy with cartoons of Islam’s prophet Mohammed.

Lawyers for a man wanted in the US on terrorism charges have told the High Court that a penalty may be imposed for uncharged conduct, if he is surrendered and found guilty in the US.

Muhammad has become the most popular name for newborn boys in the UK.

An actress suing the producer of an anti-Islam movie that has spawned violent protests across the Muslim world plans to drop her lawsuit and file a new case in federal court over copyright claims, her lawyer said.

US President Barack Obama has condemned the attack on the Benghazi consulate and a safe house refuge in which the US ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed.

A film attacking the prophet Mohammed sparked assaults on US diplomatic missions during which an American was shot dead as protesters burned the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

A suicide car bomber struck early today at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, killing nine people in an attack insurgents said was revenge for US troops burning Korans.

A large explosion has gone off at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan police said.

A Pakistani Taliban commander has confirmed the militant group is in talks with the government and said the negotiations are “progressing well”.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot last week was testing an intercontinental missile when the blast happened, his brother was quoted by a government newspaper as saying today.

Firefights broke out between Nato forces and Afghan police in two parts of Afghanistan overnight, with four Afghan officers killed in one of the incidents, officials said today.

PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad extended a tank onslaught in Syria’s Sunni Muslim tribal heartland, residents said, in an escalating crackdown on protesters that prompted an extraordinary rebuke from the Saudi king warning the Syrian leader to adopt reforms or risk defeat.

Syrian troops backed by tanks have entered a town near the border with Lebanon and are carrying out a campaign of arrests, according to activists.

THE younger half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was shot dead at his home yesterday by a senior and highly trusted bodyguard, officials said.

MORE than 2,400 Syrians have fled to Turkey to escape a feared army crackdown, officials said yesterday, in another sign that President Bashar al-Assad’s struggle with protesters is disturbing Syria’s neighbours.

THE US was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a report compiled by the former heads of the 9/11 commission.

Police today blamed the Pakistani Taliban for attacks that killed 93 people at two mosques belonging to a minority sect.

Police in Pakistan were today investigating a passenger arrested at Karachi airport after security staff found electric circuits hidden in his shoes.

SATIRICAL animated TV show South Park beeped out the words Prophet Muhammad and plastered its Wednesday episode with the word “CENSORED” after being issued a grim warning by a US Muslim group.

A MAN said Taliban militants cut off his nose and both ears as he headed for a polling station in central Afghanistan.

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has been made the first Honorary Freeman of Ennis at a civic reception in the Co. Clare town this afternoon.

A man said Taliban militants cut off his nose and both ears as he headed for a polling station in central Afghanistan.

Iran’s powerful former president today said he will sue hard-line leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for slander over remarks he made during an election debate.

Hundreds of Afghans demonstrated today against an overnight US military raid that one villager said killed several civilians.

BLOCKED from all sides with no means of escape, Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped in the battlefield between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops.

The dismembered body of a 17-year-old British girl has been discovered stuffed into a suitcase in Brazil.

Afghan officials say Taliban militants are destroying bridges and planting mines in several villages they control outside southern Afghanistan’s largest city.

Security forces sealed off the Pakistani capital Islamabad today to prevent a protest against President General Pervez Musharraf’s controversial candidacy for a new five-year term.

FOUR Muslim men have been jailed for their part in protests at the Danish embassy in London, against cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammad.

A bomb ripped through a police bus in a crowded civilian area in Afghanistan this morning, leaving about 30 people dead or wounded, an official and witnesses said.

More than 1,000 Nato and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban and took over control of a district centre in southern Afghanistan long held by the militants, officials and witnesses said today.