Thousands of protesters flowed through the streets of several US cities to call for an end to the funding of the Iraq conflict or the immediate return of US troops.

Actress Jane Fonda broke her silence over Iraq to join tens of thousands of protesters in Washington in a massive anti-war demonstration that included some members of the military.

Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said. At least 17 people have been killed in fighting.

The FBI has thousands of pages of records in its files relating to the monitoring of civil rights, environmental and other advocacy groups, the US Justice Department admitted today.

US President George Bush is using the first anniversary of Iraq’s sovereignty to try to ease Americans’ doubts about the mission and outline a winning strategy for a violent conflict that has cost the lives of more than 1,740 US troops and has no end in sight.