The funeral of a Palestinian who died in Israeli custody on Saturday, fuelling riots, is due to take place in the West Bank city of Hebron. Palestinians say Arafat Jaradat, 30, died from torture, while Israel says a post-mortem was inconclusive and that investigations into his death continue. There were clashes across the West Bank on Sunday, while prisoners refused food in protest at Mr Jaradat's death. It follows days of violence amid protest over Palestinian detainees. Mr Jaradat, from the West Bank village of Saeer, was arrested last week for throwing a rock which injured an Israeli citizen, Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet said. The father-of-two died six days later at Meggido prison, from what the Israel Prison Service (IPS) said appeared to be a heart attack. Palestinian officials, however, said an autopsy, carried out by Israeli morticians, showed he had suffered two broken ribs and had bruising. More»

A Palestinian prisoner died Saturday in an Israeli jail, a prison spokeswoman said, with a Palestinian official charging he was killed during questioning and demanding an international probe. "Arafat Jaradat... was arrested a few days ago. He was killed during the investigation," the Palestinian minister in charge of prisoner affairs Issa Qaraqaa told AFP. "We demand the creation of an international commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances of his death," Qaraqaa added. Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Jaradat, a 30-year-old from the West Bank city of Hebron, died suddenly on Saturday at the Meggido detention centre in northern Israel. More»

The Algerian military has killed 12 gunmen, including three wanted criminals, in provinces outside the capital, the defence ministry announced on Saturday. The ministry, in a statement quoted by Algeria's APS news service, said the 12 gunmen were killed in clashes on Friday and Saturday in the governorates of Chlef and Boumerdes, after which weapons and a large amount of ammunition were seized. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has been active in Boumerdes, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Algiers. More»

Three missiles have crashed into residential areas of Syria's northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 12 civilians, activists say. Video footage posted online claims to show the aftermath, with people carrying away the wounded and a wide area reduced to rubble. Activists say families are buried under the rubble in one neighbourhood. Meanwhile, opposition politicians say they have agreed to form a government for rebel-held areas. Umbrella group the Syrian National Coalition, meeting in Cairo, said it would meet again in Istanbul on 2 March to name a prime minister. The UN estimates that about 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011. More»

A protester who was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police in Bahrain last week has died, opposition officials say. Mahmood Aljazeeri, 20, died in hospital on Friday, seven days after being injured, according to a statement released by the Al Wefaq society. Mr Aljazeeri is the third person to be killed during anti-government protests in Bahrain in the past week. Violence flared during demonstrations marking two years of protests. More»

A Syrian army rocket attack has killed at least 31 people in the city of Aleppo, eyewitnesses and activists say. They say the rocket hit the rebel-held Jabal Badro district, destroying several buildings. There are fears that more people may still be buried under the rubble. The Syrian government has not commented on the claim. Some 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, the UN says. Meanwhile, Syrian state media said that mortar shells exploded near one of the presidential palaces of Bashar al-Assad in the capital, Damascus. No casualties were reported. It is not clear whether the president was in the Tishreen palace at the time. More»

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has resigned after failing to reach agreement on forming a new government. Mr Jebali had been trying to form a new coalition in response to the political crisis sparked by the killing of opposition leader Chokri Belaid. He had said he would quit if his Islamist Ennahda party did not back his plan for a cabinet of technocrats. Mr Belaid's assassination on 6 February provoked mass protests and resignations from Tunisia's coalition government. 'People disillusioned' "I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and I have done so," Mr Jebali told a news conference after meeting President Moncef Marzouki. Describing his step as "a big disappointment", he said he was standing down to "fulfil a promise made to the people." More»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed on Monday to North Korea's latest nuclear test as proof the world must keep up pressure on Iran to prevent it acquiring atomic weapons. In a speech to a gathering of international Jewish leaders, Netanyahu said sanctions alone could not stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb. He held out the prospect of military action as a last resort. "Have sanctions, tough sanctions, stopped North Korea? No. And the fact that they produced a nuclear explosion reverberates everywhere in the Middle East, and especially in Iran," he said. "They have to be coupled with a robust, credible military threat," Netanyahu said, repeating a call he has made in previous speeches on the Iranian issue. More»

 Civil war-stricken Syria was hit by an unprecedented string of sectarian kidnappings and a power outage over the weekend. On Saturday, government troops and rebels clashed around the international airport and two airbases in Syria's northern province of Aleppo. The rebels' main goal was to take control of the Aleppo international airport, the second largest in the country, but they met strong counter strikes. Analysts say the rebels have recently stepped up their offensives to capture more strategic territories in a bid to prod President Bashar al- Assad into negotiations and strengthen their hand in the possible talks. The Syrian crisis has dragged on for nearly two years, with no signs of an end in sight. Its fallout is emerging and spreading. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday a spate of sectarian kidnappings over the past two days. Meanwhile, a power outage added to the woes in the capital of Damascus and the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida on Saturday. More»

Dozens of Lebanese protesters cut off two northern border crossings with Syria on Wednesday in protest at the transfer of diesel fuel tanks to the Syrian regime, demonstrators told AFP. The crowd gathered at the Tartus and Aabudiyeh crossings leading to the Syrian province of Homs and cut off trucker routes by piling stones and other objects. Dozens of cars, buses and trucks with Syrian number plates were seen parked on both sides of the border as their passengers waited for the roads to clear. A Lebanese minister, Moin al-Meraabi, a member of the Future Movement headed by Sunni leader and Damascus opponent Saad al-Hariri, arrived at the scene vowing to open the way for civilian cars and buses. More»