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British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday it seems "likely" that the dispute over Irans nuclear program will result in its referral to the UN Security Council.
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Islamic cleric Abu Hamza Al Masri called for Jews, "infidels" and lapsed Muslims to be killed, a court in London heard Wednesday as the soliciting-to-murder and race-hate case against him began.
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Doctors finished operating on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday after he was rushed back to surgery to stem fresh bleeding in his brain, Israeli television channels reported.
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Doctors bringing Ariel Sharon out of a medically induced coma declared on Tuesday that the Israeli premiers life was no longer in danger and that there were increased signs of activity in his brain.
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A Bahraini court has acquitted a leading feminist activist on charges of having insulted Islamic justice, finally closing a case that has been open for the past four years.
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British diplomats fretted the Arab world would see former prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a "prisoner of the Zionists" because of her links to pro-Israeli groups, newly released files have revealed.
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A woman has been installed as mayor of the Palestinian Authoritys political capital Ramallah thanks to the support of the radical Islamist movement Hamas, officials said on December 30.
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Dwarfs in ancient Egypt were assimilated into daily life and their condition was not seen as a physical handicap, said a US scientist.
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Ethiopia said on December 30 that a European Union move to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in direct aid to the government over democracy concerns was "unacceptable" and urged the bloc to stick to prior commitments for the impoverished Horn
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The sporting year of 2006, packed with high-profile events dotted around the globe, will reignite fresh debates over best teams, greatest players.
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Ten mutilated bodies were found on December 29 in a southern Egyptian village, some of them missing their vital organs and laying in pools of blood.
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Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have flocked to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, with many arriving via one of five towns ringing the holy city.
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Iraqi police commandos are regularly accused of abusing detainees, but in the central Iraqi former rebel bastion of Samarra they say psychology, not force, is what gets suspects to talk.
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US Television evangelist Pat Robertson has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharons stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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Islamist cleric Abu Hamza Al Masri appeared before Londons main criminal court on Monday charged with soliciting the murder of Jews and non-Muslims and other alleged crimes.
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Turkey announced another case of bird flu in humans on Tuesday as authorities culled thousands of poultry to try to limit the spread of the deadly virus and wary neighbours moved into full alert against possible contamination.
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Doctors treating Ariel Sharon prepared on Sunday to gradually bring him out of an artificial coma after his massive brain haemorrhage but ruled out the chances of his returning as Israeli premier.
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At least five more Turks, including two small boys and an adult hospitalized in Ankara, tested positive for H5N1 bird flu on Sunday, as the deadly virus continued to move westward towards Europe.
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Doctors treating Ariel Sharon said they had detected on Saturday a reduction in the swelling in the Israeli premiers brain after his massive haemorrhage but said he remained in a critical condition.
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Turkey reported on Saturday a fourth human case of bird flu and new outbreaks among birds in the east, but ruled out the possibility of much-feared human-to-human transmission.
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Alongside tragedies, wars and natural disasters the year just ending brought its share of unusual, outrageous and tragi-comic and just downright silly news items. A selection of the stranger items:
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2005 has brought its share of unusual, outrageous, tragi-comic and just downright silly news items. Among the oddities served up by the world of science:
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Kerry Packer, Australias richest man, a pugnacious media mogul with a passion for sport and gambling, died overnight in Sydney, his television network said on December 27. He was 68.
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Here is a selection of offbeat news items that took their place alongside tragedies, wars and natural disasters during the year. As can be expected, a lot of them concerned judicial scrapes, prison mix-ups, strange regulations and the like.
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In the space of a year, a tsunami, an earthquake, brutal storms and floods have claimed more than 300,000 lives and cost at least $100 billion in damage.
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A man on December 25 allegedly killed his four daughters by slitting their throats while they slept in their home in eastern Pakistan, after the eldest married a man of her choice, police said.
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The US military on December 26 gave details of its planned troop reduction in Afghanistan, saying the total number would shrink by some 2,500 from the current 19,000 under a routine troop rotation due very soon.
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Libyas supreme court on December 25 ordered a retrial for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for their alleged role in infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
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Saudi engineers on December 25 started casting their votes for board members in an election in which women are allowed to take part for the first time in the history of their national syndicate, a spokesman said.
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A work by renowned Israeli sculptor Yigal Tumarkin has been stolen by scrap metal merchants amid an upsurge in the pilfering of metals in the Jewish state, police said on December 26.
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Seventeen Iraqis, including eight policemen, were killed in insurgent attacks in and around Baghdad on December 26 as a Shia politician was gunned down and a provincial governor narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to return to hospital early next month to undergo a minor procedure in order to repair a tiny hole in his heart, his doctors said on December 26.
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On a dark, busy late afternoon over the hectic Christmas period, a group of young Muslim men stand, braving the cold and rain, at one of several staircases leading down to the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station. Passersby, loaded with parcels,
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The death toll from the collapse of an aging hostel in the holy city of Mecca rose to 53 on Friday, as Saudi rescue teams hunted through the rubble for survivors.
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Turkey said on Friday that a third child from the same family had now died of bird flu, as the government came under fire for failing to prevent the spread of the deadly disease that has killed scores in Southeast Asia and China.
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Indonesian rescuers on Friday unearthed more bodies buried in a landslide that leveled a village in Central Java, but warned that they were unlikely to find any survivors among the scores still missing.
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At least 44 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the Iraqi Shia shrine city of Karbala on Thursday, an attack likely to fuel sectarian tensions as the country struggles to form a new government.
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More than 622,000 Muslims from different countries have so far arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca which begins on January 7, an official said on December 24.
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Christians around the world celebrated Christmas with prayers for peace on December 25 amid fears of violence as pilgrims returned in droves to their saviours birthplace.
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Israel intends to create a cordon sanitaire in the northern Gaza Strip to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets and mortar bombs into its territory.
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Bethlehem, one of the great shrines of the Christian religion, is losing its Christian population.
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A landmark court decision could force Turkey to pay millions of dollars in compensation to Greek Cypriots who fled their homes after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, a lawyer said on December 23.
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At least 18 people including women and children died when helicopters launched missiles on a village in Pakistans troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Friday, residents said.
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The United Nations on December 23 confirmed that Ethiopia is withdrawing troops from its increasingly tense border with Eritrea in compliance with UN Security Council demands made last month amid fears of a new war between the arch-rival Horn of Af
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US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced on December 23 that the United States would withdraw two combat brigades, totaling between 5,000 and 9,000 soldiers, from Iraq by next spring.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharons new Kadima party is on course to win more than double the number of seats than its nearest rivals in the March general election, according to a new poll on December 23.
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For about half the adult population of Turkey, smoking is an absolutely normal activity, the result being a permanent national health disaster with anti-smoking campaigns making barely a dent in the habit.
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The school for training leaders of the Israeli army, the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Beth intelligence service has opened its doors to foreigners for the first time, a newspaper reported on December 23.
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Nearly 100,000 tourists are expected to fly into Israel in the next 10 days in order to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah in the Holy Land, airport officials said on December 23.
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A judge ordered US prosecutors on December 22 to request scores of documents from Israeli security forces relating to the interrogation of a US citizen accused of funneling millions of dollars to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
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The US State Department on December 22 said it was suspending the publication of the multimillion dollar Hi magazine that targeted Arab youth.
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A Sharia judge in Indonesias tsunami-ravaged Aceh region says the disaster was Gods revenge against women for their wicked ways.
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Rescuers searched through thick mud on Thursday for up to 200 people buried in a landslide that flattened a village in Indonesias Central Java province, but hopes of finding survivors were fading.
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A Jewish woman, who became a hate figure in Israel after being arrested on charges of helping a terrorist organisation, was jailed for three years on December 22 for collaborating with Palestinian militants.
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The new leader of Israels right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, is to delay internal elections for candidates to the next general elections in order to prevent an extreme-right leader from standing.
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Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian leadership would carefully consider its next step after Israel refused to allow voting in next months legislative elections to take place in East Jerusalem.
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Egyptian authorities are preparing to deport some 600 Sudanese, part of a group of nearly 2,000 people detained after police forcibly broke up a protest in Cairo, a Sudanese official said on January 2.
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Twelve Iraqis, including four policemen, were killed in attacks on December 22 and three women who worked in the heavily protected Green Zone have been kidnapped.
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Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on December 22 complained that US authorities had sought to humiliate him by confiscating his watch and damned US President George W. Bush.
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About 15 militants attacked US-Afghan coalition forces early on December 22 in the countrys east in a fierce clash that left a policeman and two attackers dead, while Rumsfeld visited troops in Kabul and a court sentenced a kidnapper to death. {/b
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Eight corpses, including those of two children, were pulled on January 3 from the rubble of a house in northern Iraq after it was bombed the previous night by US aircraft.
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Iraqs deputy prime minister Ahmed Chalabi was put in charge of the vital oil ministry on December 30 after the minister was relieved of his duties following vocal protests over fuel price hikes.
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Lebanese MP Saad Hariri, the son and political heir of slain ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, has accused the "terrorist regime" in Syria of seeking to topple the Beirut government, newspapers said on December 22.
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Archrivals Ethiopia and Eritrea both claimed wrongdoing by the other after an international panel formed to resolve disputes between them said that Eritrea violated international law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in May 1998.
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The African Union (AU) has expressed outrage over a raid by suspected pro-government militiamen on a village in Sudans war-torn western region of Darfur that left nearly 20 people dead.
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The hotels might not be full and Israels "wall" may have cut it off from Jerusalem, but after five years of misery, Bethlehem is looking forward to a slightly happier Christmas.
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They can be attentive or distracted, but Iraqis are seldom indifferent and often frustrated with the trial of Saddam Hussein, the man that ruled them with an iron fist for 24 years.
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Iran on December 22 voiced satisfaction at the revival of talks with the European Union over its controversial nuclear activities, saying the deadlock has been broken without Tehran being called on to suspend sensitive fuel work.
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A landslide unleashed by heavy rains in Indonesias Central Java on Wednesday has killed 16 people but hundreds were feared dead as rescuers called off a search for survivors amid safety concerns.
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Police said on Wednesday that they believed that 15 people had died when an ice rink roof collapsed in Germany, as rescuers found the bodies of two boys and hopes faded for two people still buried in the rubble.
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Israeli air raids struck buildings and roads in the Gaza Strip on December 27 with the army poised to implement a security zone in the Palestinian territory intended to thwart militant rocket attacks.
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It was meant to be the year when the Palestinians realised their dream of statehood, but the spotlight was stolen in 2005 by an ex-general who cut his teeth fighting for Israels independence.
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At least 5,000 demonstrators rallied on December 27 in western Baghdad to protest alleged fraud in Iraqs December 15 general elections and demand a re-run of the poll as top politicians discussed the formation of a national unity government. {/bol
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British MP and anti-Iraq war campaigner George Galloway is to face a fresh investigation into the funding of his campaign against UN sanctions in Iraq, a report said on Thursday.
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The principal of the prestigious American School and his deputy were released on December 21, hours after becoming the latest in a line of foreigners to be kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
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Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, the defense minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has taken over as ruler of Dubai following the death of Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashed Al Maktoum on Wednesday.
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Israeli police are to access computer data that they believe will show that Prime Minister Ariel Sharons family received an alleged $3 million bribe, public radio reported on Wednesday.
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was fighting for life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage, throwing Israel into turmoil barely three months before a general election likely to determine the future of Middle East peacemaking.
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Security chaos in the Gaza Strip escalated further on January 4 when gunmen loyal to the ruling Fatah faction barred access to the border with Egypt and tried to kidnap the parents of an American peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer three
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Saudi rescue teams hunted for survivors on Friday in the ruins of an aging hostel in the holy city of Mecca that collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 20 pilgrims.
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Syriana, the new political thriller starring George Clooney, tries, but does not quite succeed, in explaining the phenomenon behind the new scourge of the twenty-first century - the rise of Islamist terrorism - and its weapon of
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Hymenoplasty, a controversial procedure prevalent in the Middle East and Latin America, is rapidly gaining popularity in the United States, a report said.
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A judge levied a $1-million-a-day fine on striking transit workers on Tuesday as New York million commuters began struggling home in frigid weather in the citys first transit strike in a quarter-century.
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Christmas and New Year are not official holidays in Dubai, but this does not prevent people from joining in the festive mood and packing the booming Gulf emirates many shopping malls.
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At least 18 people were killed in Iraq on January 2, including seven new police recruits blown up by a suicide bomber as they travelled on a bus.
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A booklet explaining key terms in Palestinian history from 1948 onward is being distributed among Arab schoolchildren in Israel for the first time.
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Berlin lawyer Seyran Ates is among a handful of Muslim women leaders waging a high-profile campaign against domestic violence in Germanys ethnic-immigrant communities. The subject has electrified the nation following reports this year that six Mus
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Amid unprecedented Saudi security preparations, Irans first group of people making the Hajj to Mecca left Tehran for Saudi Arabia on December 17.
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Rescue workers searched frantically for survivors on Tuesday in the debris of a collapsed ice rink in the German Alps as police raised the death toll to at least 10, many of them children.
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The Middle East should be turned into a nuclear-free region, leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said ON Monday, voicing concern over Israels and Irans nuclear ambitions.
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Gunmen stormed a series of government buildings near the Gaza Strips border with Egypt on January 2 in the latest sign of growing lawlessness in the territory, according to witnesses.
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A real-time reconstruction of the flight of a doomed Cypriot airliner that crashed under bizarre circumstances near Athens in August, killing all 121 on board, took place on Monday as investigators try to solve the mystery of the crash.
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Irans film censors might be sharpening their scissors, but one of the Islamic republics most popular actresses insists that the countrys internationally acclaimed industry cannot be written off.
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Doctors trying to rouse Ariel Sharon from a coma have turned to Mozart in a bid to accelerate the Israeli prime ministers recovery.
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Palestinian police added to the sense of anarchy in Gaza on December 30 by forcing a halt to crossings into Egypt as security forces admitted drawing a blank in their search for three kidnapped Britons.
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Ten Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers were killed, the Egyptian interior ministry said, when thousands of Egyptian riot police forcefully evacuated hundreds of Sudanese refugees early on December 30, breaking up a three-month old protest outside
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A collection of weird and wondrous news items from Egypt Of Jinns and gold coins
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Freed German hostage Susanne Osthoff will leave Iraq "in the near future" after both she and her driver were released following more than three weeks in captivity, the German foreign ministry said on Monday.
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Jordans state security court on Sunday handed Al Qaedas leader in Iraq Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi his second death penalty in absentia, for planning to blow up a border crossing between Jordan and Iraq.
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Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika was released from a Paris military hospital on Saturday, at the end of a three-week stay shrouded in secrecy, his doctor and French officials said.
