PALESTINIAN officials yesterday denounced a militant group that has demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the United States in exchange for two kidnapped Fox journalists.

A HUSBAND and wife team set a new fuel efficiency record yesterday for driving around the world on just 24 tanks of petrol.

The world united to condemn the suicide bombings on Bali.

Prime Minister Helen Clark’s Labour Party beat the opposition National Party by a single seat in New Zealand’s cliff-hanger election today, but neither party won a clear majority in Parliament.

A man stole a light aeroplane and threatened to crash it into the landmark Sky Tower in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, before plunging the craft into the sea today, police said.

Tony Blair’s European colleagues mixed hearty election victory congratulations with birthday greetings today as the British Prime Minister celebrated winning an historic third term, while Asian and South Pacific leaders lauded him for overcoming opposition to the war in Iraq.

New Zealand’s government said today it will clamp down on undesirable immigrants after admitting that a former senior diplomat in Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime had entered the country and applied for residency.

Indonesia today increased its tsunami death toll by 5,000 – pushing the worldwide toll from the December 26 disaster to more than 162,000 people – as the nation’s defence minister said there is no three-month deadline for foreign troops helping in the massive relief efforts to leave.

The Australian Government appears to have rejected an offer by UN officials on East Timor to accept the hundreds of refugees who are stranded on a ship that rescued them .