WHEN eight British soldiers were arrested by the gardaí in the middle of the night in May 1976, it was one of the most embarrassing diplomatic incidents of the Troubles.

EVENTS relating directly and indirectly to the North dominated Anglo-Irish relations during 1977.

Iraq’s prime minister today disputed Blackwater USA’s version of a weekend shooting that left at least 11 people dead and declared he would not tolerate “the killing of our citizens in cold blood.”

Sixty-four suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe this week were hired to help overthrow the government in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea with the assistance of British, American, and Spanish intelligence agencies, the Zimbabwe government claimed.

Members of the Special Air Service are believed to be the British ground troops on operation in Afghanistan.