Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr tonight expressed his relief that FIA president Milo Corcoran will be fit to return home to Dublin tomorrow.

A Lufthansa airliner en route to Tel Aviv was rerouted to Cyprus on today after the airline received a bomb threat.

An Israeli air force plane carrying a group of Arab prisoners left today for Germany as another plane, carrying a kidnapped Israeli and the bodies of three soldiers, took off from Lebanon, setting into motion a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

A nationwide strike began in Israel today, shutting down government services, banks, the international airport and trains but was set to be held for only four hours following a court ruling.

srael effectively shut down today as a trade union federation launched an open-ended general strike in protest at the government’s planned budget cuts.

Passengers targeted in today’s failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner said they heard a loud boom just after takeoff, but were told by the crew it was a technical problem.

ISRAELI army chief Moshe Yaalon said yesterday that Israel was prepared for an attack by Iraq as a conflict with Baghdad loomed after Washington said it would act against Saddam Hussein with or without world support.

Italy threw a spanner in the works today just as Israel and the Palestinians agreed to terms for ending the 36 day siege of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.