A huge earthquake has brought death and destruction to the Indonesia island of Sumatra.
Footage from the town of Padang show how the 7.6 magnitude temblor flattened hoems and hospitals leaving thousadns of people trapped under the rubble.
Residents scrambled to put out fires caused by the quake while recsue workers struggled to reach the coastal town after access roads were cut by a landslide.
Bernard Smith reports.
Israel has agreed to release 20 Palestinian women in exchange for a recently recorded videotape of a captured soldier.
The prisoner release and the handnig-over of the videotape are set for Friday, according to reports.
Gilad Shalit has been held since 2006 when he was taken during a raid by Palestinian fighters on an Israeli army positino close to the Gaza border.
Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinians, including dozens of women.
Sherien Tadros reports from Gaza.
In Afghanistan, a powerful government ministre has threatened to quit if a new secruity plan is not put in place.
Ismail Khan, the minsiter of energy, survived an assassination attempt in the western province of Herat on Sunday.
Shortly after the bombing, Khan railed against the rise in violence in Afghanistan, saying Afghans should be in charge of their own security, not the international community.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports.
The eyes of the Arab world and beyond are focused on debate at the UN Human Rights Council and whether it will agree that alleged war crimes in Gaza warrant crimnial action.
Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, led an inevstigation into the war on Gaza, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, and his report said that there was clear evidence that crimes had been committed by both sides.
Israel has dismsised the findings as politically motivated, but many commentators have warned that the credibility of the UN body rests on its willingness to act.
Palestinians, hoewver, simply hope that any measures taken by the conucil will prove to be the first step towards getting justice for the Gazans who suffeerd during the conflict.
Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza City.