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Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt, have recommended that the group's member nations suspend political ties to Israel as long as aggression and occupation continues.

Nine Arab foreign ministers have endorsed a call to suspend political contacts with Israel until aggression and occupation by the Israelis stops.

The death of Faisal Husseini, Palestinian minister for Jerusalem and top PLO official, is a blow to both sides of the peace process, observers say.

Iraq has told the United Nations it had considered building a radiation bomb in 1987, but shelved the idea after determining it was not feasible.

A decade ago, Iraq had one of the most modern infrastructures and highest standards of living in the Middle East.

Iraq on Saturday rejected French amendments to a British proposal to ease U.N. sanctions now being discussed in the Security Council.

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday it had banned the army from initiating attacks against Palestinians, just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had called for a cease-fire in the troubled region.

Hours before the Mitchell Commission was to release its report on Israeli-Palestinian violence, Israeli Defense Forces fired several missiles at a factory that it says produces mortar shells in northern Gaza.

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday it had banned the army from initiating attacks against Palestinians, just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had called for a cease-fire in the troubled region.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his Security Cabinet on Sunday, a day after Arab foreign ministers recommended suspending political contacts with the Jewish state.

Four years ago, when Pope John Paul II visited Lebanon, the head of nation's Maronite Catholic Church -- Cardinal Nestral Astair -- was at his side.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference Saturday called on all 56 member nations to suspend all political and economic ties with Israel as long as the violence continues with the Palestinians.

Israeli tank shells hit the house of a Palestinian security chief early Sunday evening in the West Bank.

Amid pressure from Congress to get tougher on the Palestinians for their role in terrorist attacks against Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell hosted a top Palestinian official at the State Department Tuesday.

Senior government sources told CNN on Thursday that as a result of a specific and credible terrorist threat against Americans in Yemen, some government employees have been evacuated.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday used the word provocative to address reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to increase state support for Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The United Nations Security Council Thursday put off a Palestinian request to formally discuss the escalating violence on the West Bank and Gaza and its impact on civilians.

A meeting Wednesday between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to discuss the Egyptian-Jordanian peace initiative ended with little advancement, a State Department official said.

U.S. warplanes struck targets at an air defense site in southern Iraq Friday, in response to recent Iraqi hostile threats against coalition aircraft monitoring the southern no-fly zone, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

Two journalists -- one from the United States, another from Britain -- were kidnapped Tuesday and then released hours later in what was called a warning to the U.S. and British governments.

Amateur video footage has been released showing the moment when a building collapsed during a wedding banquet in Jerusalem, killing at least 25 people.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

At least two Palestinians were killed Saturday, according to Palestinian sources, as violent responses to violence continued in the Mideast.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat wants a summit to discuss a U.S. report blaming Israeli-Palestinian violence on both sides.

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Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is set for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Europe.

An explosion at a market in central Yemen has killed at least 14 people and injured more than a dozen others.

One of the worst days of bloodshed since Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated eight months ago left at least 16 people dead and about 160 wounded Friday -- and left the quest for peace seemingly more remote.

Clashes are continuing in Gaza and the West Bank despite Israeli and Palestinian leaders receiving a U.S. report blaming both sides for the continuing violence.

At least 30 people have been injured and a number of people killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack in the coastal resort of Netanya.

A second car bomb in nine hours has exploded in downtown Jerusalem.

Two British women in a drugs case have been sentenced to life in prison by a United Emirates court.

Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who headed an international committee that investigated recent violence in the Middle East, said Sunday he believes the Bush administration is prepared to take active leadership to guide Israelis and Palestinians to a solution of their decades-old conflict.

A car exploded in central Jerusalem Saturday night, in an area of discotheques and nightclubs called the Russian Compound, police said.

A car bomb went off Wednesday near a school in an industrial zone in the coastal city of Netanya, Israel, police said.

A car carrying members of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement exploded in a West Bank refugee camp Friday evening, killing one person and injuring three others.

A report released Monday by a five-man independent and international committee blamed both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for nearly eight months of violence that have wracked the Middle East.

CNN Correspondent Sheila MacVicar was at the scene shortly after a suicide bomber killed himself and at least five others Friday at a shopping mall in the Israeli seaside resort of Netanya. MacVicar offered this description of the aftermath:

What started as a relatively routine assignment in Gaza for two journalists turned into a four-hour waiting game that they described as a symbolic kidnapping.

The Bush administration has signaled a more active role for the United States in helping to tackle mounting violence in the Middle East.

Dozens of people were injured, two of them seriously, as soccer fans rushed onto the field during a game Saturday evening in northern Israel.

Israeli and Palestinian security officials finished more talks Wednesday as a Palestinian official accused Israel of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat joined CNN's Lou Waters by phone after the release of the Mitchell committee's report on ending the violence in the Middle East.

Amid international efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the European Union has condemned Israel for a disproportionate use of force.

At least 15 football fans have been killed and hundreds others injured after a stadium collapsed in Iran.

Israel has been burying the victims of a tragic wedding party, as hopes fade of finding more survivors from Israel's worst-ever civilian disaster.

Survivors of Jerusalem's wedding celebration disaster have been describing the moment that the floor gave way beneath them as they danced.

Israeli helicopters attacked Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday.

At least 15 football fans have been killed and hundreds others injured after a stadium collapsed in Iran.