A US appeals court has rejected a 15-year prison sentence for a man convicted of biting off a police officer’s fingertip.

Paul McCartney is to appear in a new five-minute promotional film to promote former The Beatles bandmate Pete Best's Liverpool, England coffee shop.

In the biggest sweep in months, Israeli troops hunting for militants stormed dozens of homes in the West Bank town of Nablus today, ordering Palestinians to line up in the dawn chill as tanks blocked roads and helicopters hovered above.

Israeli troops took control of the largest city in the West Bank today as hundreds of Palestinian gunmen barricaded in a nearby refugee camp put up fierce resistance.