At least 41 people were killed when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosive vest in a crowded aid distribution centre in north west Pakistan today.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair "very much exaggerated" Iran's role in supporting al Qaida insurgents in their attacks on British and American forces in Iraq, a former ambassador to Tehran said today.

The continuing genocide in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region was the world’s worst human rights abuse last year, the US said today in a global report that found freedoms eroding in numerous other nations, including US allies Afghanistan and Iraq.