MARIB — The government dispatched more helicopter-born troops on Wednesday to encircle a rugged mountain hideout and cut off water deliveries to the region where a reneged tribe is holding five Italian tourists hostage.

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait’s newly-enfranchised women have been added to the voter rolls for the first time, and the country now has more women voters than men, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

Sharon had been investigated in a series of corruption scandals OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli police are to access computer data which they believe will show Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s family received an alleged $3 million bribe, public radio reported on Wednesday.

PARIS (AFP) — Syria needs to comply with the demands of the UN probe into the murder of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, French President Jacques Chirac warned on Wednesday. “Syria must answer the demands” of the international inquiry into Hariri’s killing,

BAGHDAD (AFP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of an Iraqi funeral procession on Wednesday, the bloodiest in a string of attacks across the country that left more than 50 people dead and scores wounded. The bomber, wired with explosives, walked up to a group of …

GAZA — Another day of disorder ravaged the Gaza Strip Wednesday, as gunmen linked to Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades went on the rampage in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, bulldozing a barricade on the Gaza side of the Egypt border and killing two Egyptian soldiers.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last night suffered what doctors told Israeli TV was a “significant stroke.” The 78-year-old Sharon, who was treated for a minor stroke last month was rushed into hospital yesterday

‘Damascus receives UN request to interview Assad’

TEHRAN (Reuters) — Iran announced on Tuesday it would resume atomic fuel research and development next week, raising the spectre of a fresh showdown with the West which suspects Tehran wants nuclear technology to build bombs. The news coincided with strong hints from Iran’s foreign ministry that Tehran would reject …

TEL AVIV (AP) — The Israeli Shin Bet security agency has recommended building a wall through an Arab community located along the Lebanese border to prevent attacks by Lebanese fighters, officials said Tuesday. The construction of the barrier along the UN-recognised border would divide the Israeli-controlled town of Ghajar in …