Rose Mary Roche looks at why we own so many pairs, covet more — and don’t even wear half of those we own.

The al Qaeda threat that closed US embassies in the Middle East is the most serious in years and the “chatter” among suspected terrorists is reminiscent of what preceded the Sept 11 attacks, a US lawmaker who is briefed on intelligence said.

The United States is considering a no-fly zone in Syria, potentially its first direct intervention into the two-year-old civil war, Western diplomats said, after the White House said Syria had crossed a “red line” by using nerve gas.

At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday in a new massacre in the near two-year revolt against president Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

The Arab Spring gave Yemen’s women a public voice and a visible face. But now the revolution has faded without changing anything for millions who are married too young and shut away in mud huts for the rest of their lives, writes Janine di Giovanni

David Cameron will hold his first face-to-face talks with Francois Hollande today as they join world leaders in the US for a G8 summit set to be dominated by the eurozone crisis.

Egypt’s election commission has disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including Hosni Mubarak’s former spy chief and fundamentalist Islamists, from running.

Dervla Murphy’s call for a boycott of Israel is one-sided and shows a misunderstanding of the facts, writes Boaz Modai

The Anonymous hackers group claims it has broken into the website of a US company whose tear gas has been used against demonstrators in Egypt.

EXTRAVAGANT firework displays lit up the skies from Sydney to New York in a global New Year’s party as people around the world set aside their worries to welcome 2012.

Yemen’s powerful Republican Guard forces opened fire with guns, tear gas and water cannons today at a march by more than 100,000 protesters demanding that the outgoing president be put on trial.

IRISH peacekeeping troops in Lebanon have helped to open up a likely new front for food exports to the Middle East.

IT’S ‘maths week,’ the festival of numbers.

Rapidly escalating street battles between opponents of Yemen's regime and forces loyal to its embattled president spread to the home districts of senior government figures and other highly sensitive areas of the capital today.

THE dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from using US troops on Libyan soil and to let Nato take the lead in degrading Gaddafi’s military power.

Egypt’s ruling military and protesters seeking greater and faster change are moving into an outright collision, as the generals try to strip away public support for the movement while cosying up to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.

JACK WARNER last night unleashed his threatened “tsunami” on FIFA with allegations about the organisation’s president Sepp Blatter — and that FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke suggested the 2022 World Cup was “bought”.

Amnesty International has condemned the jailing in Azerbaijan of an opposition social media activist on what it called bogus drug possession charges.

SYRIAN opposition figures warned embattled President Bashar al-Assad his regime will collapse if he fails to usher in democracy, as troops kept their grip on the flashpoint town of Daraa.

Yemen’s embattled president agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.

PROTESTERS in Jordan have been attacked by pro-government supporters who pelted them with stones, injuring six people.

Libyan Leader Colonel Gaddafi says all Libyan people are now carrying weapons to defend the country.

A massive demonstration against Yemen’s government turned into a killing field today as snipers fired down on protesters from rooftops and police made a wall of fire with tires and petrol, blocking a key escape route.

Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the capital today to voice allegiance to King Abdullah II in the biggest show of support for the monarch since opposition protests began 10 weeks ago.

GOLD rose above $1,430 (€1,022) an ounce yesterday, while silver surged 3% to 31-year highs, as soaring oil prices fuelled by widening unrest in Libya prompted investors to pile into safe havens.

EMBATTLED Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, under intense pressure to quit, was slapped with an EU visa ban while ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was also hit by travel restrictions.

Omani security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters demanding political reforms today, killing at least one person in the strategic Gulf country, police officials said.

THOUSANDS marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces in cities across Iraq yesterday, in the largest and most violent anti-government protests here since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world several weeks ago.

Thousands in the coastal town of Tobruk celebrated their freedom from Muammar Gaddafi by waving flags of the old monarchy, honking horns and firing guns in the air around a city square where he once executed people.

Egypt’s most prominent democracy advocate took up a loudspeaker and called for President Hosni Mubarak to resign, speaking to thousands of protesters who defied a curfew for a third night.

After 23 years of iron-fisted rule, the president of Tunisia was driven from power by violent protests over soaring unemployment and corruption.

THE bombs used in the cargo plane terror plot were at least 50 times more powerful than would be needed to blow a hole in an aircraft fuselage, officials said yesterday.

THE Government secretly forged trade links with Libya in the 1970s, while privately acknowledging the north African state was arming the IRA.

PALESTINIAN officials sought US and European help to salvage foundering peacemaking yesterday after tough terms laid out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but stopped short of refusing to resume negotiations.

Morocco has cut off diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing Tehran in a rare public spat of trying to spread Shia Islam in the Sunni Arab kingdom.

Israel today warned the people of Gaza that its attacks which have so far killed more than 300 were a "war to the bitter end".

Israel has called up thousands of reserve soldiers for a possible ground invasion as it widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Israeli warplanes blasted targets all over Gaza early today, including a mosque and a TV station, after a day of intensive airstrikes that killed more than 200 Palestinians.

Under-fire FIA president Max Mosley will attend his first official function next week since allegations relating to his private life surfaced in a Sunday newspaper.

Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden marked the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by urging the American people to “embrace Islam”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared today that months of coalition talks with the ruling Hamas have hit a “dead end” and his aides said he’s finished negotiating with the Islamic militants.

ABU Musab al-Zarqawi rose from the life of a street thug in Jordan to become the symbol of ‘holy war’ in Iraq, masterminding the bloodiest suicide bombings of the insurgency, beheading hostages and helping push Iraq into a spiral of sectarian violence with vicious attacks against Shi’ites.

US President George Bush said today he was troubled by the political storm that forced the reversal of a deal allowing a company in Dubai to take over take over operations of six American ports, saying it sent a bad message to US allies in the Middle East.

MUSLIM protests against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed claimed three more lives yesterday when Afghan police fired at a crowd trying to storm a US military base.