The US military has confirmed the death of an American service member in eastern Afghanistan, bringing the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan in the long-running conflict to 2,000.

The US Navy SEALs whose helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan had rushed to the mountainous area to help a US Army Ranger unit that was under fire from insurgents, officials say.

Two people were killed today when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a press club in north-western Pakistan, officials said.

A South Carolina judge has ordered a paternity test for the six-year-old son of a woman who claims to be James Brown’s widow.

With Yasser Arafat in “the final phase of his life”, the Palestinian leader’s political heirs completed his burial arrangements today and made plans for a funeral as soon as Friday.

A senior Islamic cleric rushed to Yasser Arafat’s hospital bedside in Paris today to be with him in the “final phase” of his life, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian leader said.

Yasser Arafat is hovering “between life and death” in a coma, Palestinian and French officials say.

YASSER ARAFAT was lying in a coma “between life and death” yesterday as a row brewed between Israelis and Palestinians over a likely burial site.

Clinging on to life in a French hospital, Yasser Arafat was unaware tonight of the growing row over where he will be buried.

Yasser Arafat clung on to life today and is not brain dead, his spokeswoman said.

Yasser Arafat is in a “reversible coma” but not brain dead, his spokeswoman said today amid reports about the 75-year-old Palestinian leader’s condition.

Israel will permit Yasser Arafat to be buried in the Gaza Strip, but not in Jerusalem, an Israeli Cabinet minister said today, as the Palestinian leader lay gravely ill in a Paris hospital.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is in intensive care undergoing a new round of tests today after his still-unexplained condition took a sudden turn for the worse.

Tests on Yasser Arafat showed problems with his digestion, but the Palestinian leader has recovered sufficiently to undergo further examinations that could not be performed when he was first rushed to France, an aide said.

Israeli bulldozers moved into Palestinian-controlled territory early today at the Rafah refugee camp near the border with Egypt, killing a teenager and destroying at least 10 buildings, Palestinian officials and an eyewitness said.