Iran today condemned the abduction of its diplomat in Baghdad, adding that it holds the United States responsible for his life.

Violence raked Baghdad today as an Iraqi general took charge of the security operation in the capital and Iraqi police and soldiers manned new roadblocks - initial steps indicating the start of the long-anticipated joint operation with American forces to curb sectarian bloodshed.

A US serviceman fatally shot a civilian at the US military air base in Kyrgyzstan today “in response to a threat,” the US military said.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush yesterday admitted he hasn’t decided whether to send more troops to Iraq or begin bringing them home, saying he is awaiting the military’s recommendations.

THE family of released hostage Brian Fogerty are expecting to welcome him back to his family home in Galway today.

IF Irish troops are sent to police the ceasefire in Lebanon they will be greeted by an unprecedentedly hostile local resistance, according to the Peace And Neutrality Alliance.

A small group of anti-war activists held a protest vigil when President George W Bush’s plane refuelled at Shannon airport early today.

TENS of thousands of Iraqis marched and beat themselves yesterday in blood-soaked processions through this holy city and other Shi’ite centres around the country to mourn the seventh century death of their revered martyr, Imam Hussein.

More than 7,000 Iraqis, including 4,021 civilians, were killed in violence in 2005, the first year that Iraqi officials have kept such records, an Interior Ministry official said today.

THE kindness of strangers to a newlywed Irish couple trapped in devastated downtown New Orleans helped keep a line of communication open to their worried families back home.

The United States military has released nearly 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison after Iraqi authorities requested that they be set free, a military statement issued in Baghdad said today.

The US media is struggling to reconcile two cherished values. One is the idea that journalists must not be forced to reveal their sources. The other is much less noble, but no less cherished: get Bush.

Lynndie England will plead guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, her lawyer said today, about a year after photos of her sexually humiliating inmates made her the face of a scandal that damaged the credibility of the United States military.

Two US soldiers died in separate attacks in Iraq, the United States military said in Baghdad today.

Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the United States military base in Guantanamo Bay on Cuba during a mass protest in 2003, the United States military confirmed.

An explosion ripped through a school in south-eastern Afghanistan, killing nine children and one adult, the United States military said today.

The United States military said today it has found “no evidence of a wedding” at the site of an air strike last week near the Syrian border.

Two Iraqi civilians and one American soldier were killed in attacks in Baghdad, the United States military said today.

The United States military wants to spend less next year on new weapons systems and more to maintain and upgrade helicopters, tanks and aircraft worn down by heavy duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to documents posted accidentally on the Internet tonight.

The United States military is “sure” it will catch Osama bin Laden this year, a spokesman said today.

US SECRETARY of State Colin Powell sought support from Britain, France, Germany and Russia yesterday for a proposed UN resolution that would give the world body a larger role in Iraq’s economic and political future.

Around 800 anti-Iraq war campaigners joined a protest rally today outside Shannon Airport in Co Clare today.

The High Court in Dublin tonight directed that the Government should reveal documents relating to the use of Irish airspace and airport landing facilities available to foreign military aircraft.

PRESIDENT Bush stood beside a Pentagon rebuilt to mourn on this new September 11 the murder of so many innocents a year ago and, in their memory, he commanded the United States military to victory in the war the terrorists began.

AN anonymous office corridor now marks the precise spot where the cockpit of a jumbo jet punched into the Pentagon, sparking a giant inferno which killed 189 people.

American President George Bush today wiped away tears as he paid tribute to the eight soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan this week.

A US Navy plane has accidentally dropped some form of munitions on a bombing range in Kuwait, killing five people.