The Somali capital’s streets were the scene of heavy fighting on Friday between Ethiopian troops backing the government and insurgents, witnesses said, a day after similar battles left at least 12 people dead and a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.

At least 57 people, including 1 Irish man, 13 Britons and 17 Indian nationals, drowned when a dinner-cruise ship with 137 people on board capsized just off the Bahraini coast last night in calm waters, the Interior Ministry said.

THE US forces chose highly symbolic buildings as the focus for their first armoured raids into Baghdad yesterday, targeting the key symbols of Saddam Hussein’s regime in a dramatic show of military strength.

A US military source has said two presidential palaces, including the Republican Palace, have been raided.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf claimed US soldiers were being “slaughtered in their hundreds at the walls of Baghdad“.

China has claimed the lead in the world league table of mobile phone users.