Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border yesterday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air.

ASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16

A father and one of his children died when a family was forced to jump 160 feet into the sea after being trapped by a wildfire.

Libyan revolutionary forces fired rockets into the western half of Muammar Gaddafi's home town today as hundreds of residents streamed out of the city to flee the fighting.

Libyan rebels have fought their way into the strategic city of Zawiya west of Tripoli on in their most significant advance in months, battling snipers on rooftops and heavy shelling from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces holding the city.

A PACK of French convicts are taking to the road to cycle the inaugural Prison Tour de France a two-week, 2,204 kilometres trek across the country.

A pack of French convicts are taking to the road to cycle the inaugural “Prison Tour de France” a two-week, 1,370 mile trek across the country.

It hardly takes a lot of effort to convince someone to go on a holiday in the south of France.

Doctors suspect a French woman who recently returned from Turkey could have contracted bird flu, the Health Ministry reported today.

Algerians voted yesterday on a peace plan the government says will help the country move on from a brutal Islamic insurgency that left an estimated 150,000 dead, but which critics charge will whitewash past crimes.

Monaco’s 82-year-old ruler Prince Rainier has been admitted to a hospital with a chest infection and was expected to require a few days of treatment, the royal household said today.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria neared 2,200 today.

ONE of the major battles in any war with Iraq will be fought over the strategically crucial northern city of Kirkuk.

A suicide bombing on a bus began a day of bloodshed that left 18 people dead and dozens injured in shootings, bombings and ambushes from northern Israel to Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast.

Israeli war planes tonight bombed a Palestinian security building in apparent retaliation for a shooting attack against Israel earlier today.

The Israeli air force shot down a small Lebanese civilian plane after it crossed into their air space along the Mediterranean coast today.