US First lady Laura Bush, on a mission to highlight signs of rebirth in war-weary Afghanistan, ventured outside of Kabul today to an area that symbolises both the destruction of war and Afghanistan’s attempt at rebirth.

Iran will respond in mid-August to the Western incentives for a rolling back of its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

US President George Bush today acknowledged European concerns about the detainees the United States was holding at Guantanamo Bay, but said some were “cold-blooded” killers that needed to be brought to justice.