Israeli aircraft demolished two money exchange shops in Gaza used to channel funds to Hamas militants, the military said tonight.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas made a new push today to restore a cease-fire with Israel that collapsed under a barrage of Hamas rocket fire.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an early election to end his violent clash with Hamas, in a gamble that banks on the support of Palestinians as he seeks to weaken the Islamic militants, avoid civil war and continue peace overtures with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced today that he would call new presidential and parliament elections at the earliest possible date, in a bold challenge to ruling Hamas militants that risked sparking a full-scale civil war.

Israeli forces crossed into the Gaza Strip early today in a raid that captured a local Hamas militant leader and left his brother dead near a Gaza border town, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.

Had it succeeded, a major terrorist plot to allegedly blow up aircraft flying from the UK to the US in mid-flight could have killed unprecedented numbers of passengers, terrorism experts suggested today.

Palestinian security forces and Hamas militants exchanged gunfire in a crowded Gaza City neighbourhood today.

West Bank militants demanded that Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef leave their town today, shooting rifles outside a government building to prove their point.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered all contact cut with newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas until Abbas reins in the militants, Israeli media reported tonight.

Israel signalled today it will delay retaliating for a Gaza crossing ambush that killed six Israeli workers and give Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas a chance to rein in violent groups.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is ready to honour the security commitments in an internationally backed peace plan, he said today, adding that he hopes to resume peace talks with Israel soon.

A senior Hamas leader indicated today that the militant group is halting attacks on Israelis while the Palestinians prepare to choose a new leader, the latest sign of change following the death of Yasser Arafat.

YASSER ARAFAT swore in new Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and a skeleton emergency cabinet yesterday in a move likely to make it more difficult for Israel to carry out its threat to “remove” the Palestinian leader.

The mastermind of the September 11 attacks has told US interrogators that he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996, according to interrogation reports.

PALESTINIAN leaders were yesterday locked in a power struggle triggered by Yasser Arafat's attempt to hand control over all the security forces to a loyalist in the apparent hope of sidelining the US-backed Palestinian security chief, officials said.

Palestinian leaders were today locked in a power struggle triggered by Yasser Arafat’s attempt to hand control over all the security forces to a loyalist in apparent hope of sidelining the US-backed Palestinian security chief, officials said.

Palestinian leaders were today locked in a power struggle triggered by Yasser Arafat’s attempt to hand control over all the security forces to a loyalist in apparent hope of sidelining the US-backed Palestinian security chief, officials said.

The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks used to be a playboy who liked lounging in five star hotels and once flew a helicopter over the office of a woman he was trying to impress.

The arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed could help unravel details of past and present terror plots in Southeast Asia, police who once hunted him in Manila said today.

PAKISTAN’S arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Saturday is the biggest catch yet in the global hunt for al-Qaida suspects triggered

Osama bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was one of the world’s most wanted men.

Fatboy Slim is to headline Cream's 10th Birthday celebrations in October.

Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera says it has conducted interviews with two wanted al-Qaida members who disclose how the terrorist network planned and carried out the September 11 attacks in the US.

Fatboy Slim, Seb Fontaine, Yousef and Jon Carter are to DJ at Cream's 10th Birthday Weekend.

An al Qaida agent suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks was in the Philippines in the mid-1990s, plotting terror and chasing women, Manila police said.

Clues filtering in from around the world since at least 1994 foreshadowed Osama bin Laden’s plans to attack the US, and intelligence information from Italy, Israel and elsewhere before September 11 warned that a terrorist strike might be imminent.

US officials received a warning in 1995 that Islamic militants were plotting to attack an American nuclear site and targets in Britain - but did not pass on the information to the agency overseeing nuclear facilities or to the plants themselves, it has emerged.