Russia expelled Israel's military attache at its Moscow embassy because he engaged in industrial espionage, an unnamed secret service official told the state RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday.

The lawyer of detained US hikers in Iran told AFP on Thursday that he has sought judiciary permission to meet his clients after their family raised concerns the two men could be on a hunger strike.

Nato forces on Wednesday said they killed four insurgents, including two armed women, during an overnight raid targeting an Al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Northern Afghanistan.

The wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is expecting a child, the President's father told on Tuesday's edition of the German Bild newspaper.

A bomb was found near Dublin on Monday night, ahead of Queen Elizabeth's historic four-day visit in Ireland. The Irish Army rendered safe a viable improvised explosive device found on a bus in County Kildare late on Monday night, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

Suzanne, the wife of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has signed documents to hand over her property to the state, Egypt's MENA news agency said.

Libya is ready to comply with UN security council resolutions if Nato ends its air strikes and the rebels cease hostilities, said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.

Bloodshed broke out on Sunday as Palestinian refugees across the region marched on Israel's borders in a mass show of mourning over the 1948 creation of the Jewish state.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has led senior members of his Cabinet on a visit to the USS Carl Vinson, from where Osama bin Laden's body was buried at sea.

Suzanne Mubarak, wife of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, has been hospitalized in the intensive care unit after suffering severe chest pains upon hearing the news that she had been ordered detained on corruption allegations.