Insurgents launched roadside bomb blasts and rocket-propelled grenade attacks north of Baghdad early today, killing at least nine people, including a policeman’s four children.

The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who was forced into months of exile by Iraqi forces overrunning his oil-rich Gulf state in 1990 and then supported the US in invading Iraq more than a decade later, died today.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese paid tribute to a human rights champion at a reception in Dublin yesterday - as he languished in a Sudan prison after being arrested on his way to Ireland.

THE Iraqi town of Samarra was partly devastated after US troops yesterday responded to two ambushes.

The British forces that control Iraq’s second city Basra have not had a smooth ride trying to set up the first country’s first post-war civilian administration.

A Palestinian suspected of involvement in the deaths of seven Israeli soldiers was killed in a helicopter missile revenge attack today.

Israel was accused of a massacre yesterday after at least 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded during a devastating army raid on a Gaza Strip town.

Israel was accused of a massacre today after at least 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded during a devastating army raid on a Gaza Strip town.

A MOTHER looks adoringly at her twin baby boys knowing that one of them must die if the other is to survive.

Winds reaching 35mph knocked down a minaret, killing two worshippers as they left a mosque in Turkey, police said today.