At least 106 people were killed today when a suicide car bomber drove into a crowd applying for work at a government office south of Baghdad, then blew himself up.

IRAQI officials said yesterday Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator’s Ba’ath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture.

THE plundering of almost €30m from the headquarters of the Northern Bank in Belfast will go down as one of the biggest heists in history, joining the Brinks Mat and Great Train Robbery in the annals of record-breaking crimes.

Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian uprising leader jailed by Israel who is perhaps the strongest candidate to oust Yasser Arafat’s old guard of politicians, will run in presidential elections, a close aide said today.

PALESTINIAN militants are sending “very positive” signals that they are ready for a ceasefire with Israel, a top aide to the Palestinian prime minister has said.

Lawlessness spread in Baghdad today even as the fighting dwindled to occasional bursts of machine gun fire.

AN Israeli army team yesterday began evacuating tourists injured in the deadly suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel. Kenyan police said they picked up 12 people for questioning in connection with the blast and a simultaneous attempted attack on an Israeli airliner.

An Israeli army team today began evacuating tourists injured in a deadly suicide bombing at a beach resort in Kenya as investigators sought to determine who was behind twin attacks.

KENYAN and Israeli officials suspect al-Qaida terrorists were to blame for yesterday’s bomb atrocity in Kenya, but a previously unknown militant group issued a statement in Beirut, Lebanon, claiming responsibility.

A SUICIDE bomber drove his car alongside a bus in northern Israel during the afternoon rush-hour yesterday, detonated his deadly cargo and killed at least 13 people as the entire bus was engulfed in flames.

Israel declared Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat an enemy today and sent tanks and troops charging into his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah, sparking a battle with security forces.

Israeli troops have shot and killed two Palestinians who attacked an army post with grenades, and militant Islamic groups said they would ignore any truce deal, complicating US efforts to arrange a ceasefire.

Mideast truce talks ended in failure early today as both sides argued over who should take the first steps, and hours later Israeli soldiers raided three West Bank villages.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has offered Israel 'complete peace from Arab nations' in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands and the creation of an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel today displayed 50 tons of missiles, mortars, and mines seized on a ship and accused the Palestinians of plotting ‘‘the next wave of terror’’.