Seven Saudis, two Jordanians, two Filipinos, one Lebanese and one Swiss also died, according to Saudi officials. There are fears that the final death toll could be much higher.At least 194 people were injured in the attacks. Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian policemen in Gaza early today and attacked a Palestinian refugee camp, wounding 30 people, after 13 Israelis were hurt in Palestinian attacks. The Palestinians said the gunfire was unprovoked.The army said that troops stationed in the area following a “specific alert,” identified four armed men in civilian clothes heading toward Netzarim in the early hours of the morning. The troops opened fire and reported hitting the men.Earlier, at the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a crowd of people as tanks and bulldozers operated nearby, tearing down buildings Khan Younis hospital spokesman Dr. Haidar al-Qedra said 30 people were wounded.The Israeli commander, who gave his name only as Col.

Pinhas, said the helicopter fired at Palestinians who were firing rifles and anti-tank grenades at the Israeli forces.Tanks and bulldozers destroyed five houses and damaged four others, Palestinian security officials said. About 60 people were left homeless, said the governor, Hosni Zoaroub.The renewed violence contrasted with international efforts to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to stop 31 months of violence and start moving along the path outlined by the “road map” peace plan, backed by the “Quartet” of mediators the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations.In an interview published yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared to backtrack on compromises he had offered several months ago, taking a hard line on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.He told The Jerusalem Post that Israel would hold to some settlements in the heart of the West Bank, citing three by name Beit El, Ariel and Emmanuel. Israeli control over those areas would make it difficult to establish a territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, a goal of the “road map.” Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip for their state, demanding removal of all Jewish settlements.Mr Sharon will discuss his objections to the plan with President George Bush at the White House next week. Palestinians say the road map must be implemented without changes.. Fukui Prefecture, Japan.

Just days to Armageddon, but the members of Panawave still find time to wash their underwear. Two of the white-robed cultists scrub clothes in basins, while their colleagues drape their trademark Persil-white sheets across trees and bushes. Ignore the Ku Klux Klan-style garb and it could be an encampment of particularly fastidious New Age ramblers

Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Having wandered around remote roads in central Japan in their caravan of white vans and SUVs for months in blissful anonymity, the group was instantly catapulted to national fame when a television film crew caught up with them a fortnight ago.Open-mouthed viewers saw reporters scuffling with men apparently dressed in sheets, who shouted that the broadcasting equipment was giving them cancer. Later, crews were greeted by cultists carrying giant mirrors to deflect the “electromagnetic waves” from cameras.Visitors to the Panawave site ( www. panawave.gr.jp) learnt that the world will end on 15 May with a series of cataclysmic events, including earthquakes and tidal waves provoked by gravity from the unseen planet.With the war in Iraq winding down, Japanese politics stuck in apparently endless stalemate and Sars so far miraculously bypassing the country, Panawave’s antics were an oasis in a media drought. The press pack chased the group across half a dozen prefectures as city after city passed resolutions telling them to go back to where they came from.Asked why they covered crash barriers and trees with sheets wherever they stopped, the cultists at first patiently explained to smirking reporters that it was to protect them from microwave attack by left-wing guerillas.