German-US relations are facing a new test over a German intelligence employee who reportedly spied for the US, with Germany’s president saying if the allegations are true, that kind of spying on allies must stop.

Military sightings of UFOs, an "alien abduction" in London and an unidentified aircraft shadowing a Lancaster bomber feature among thousands of close-encounter documents released by the British National Archives today.

A Pakistani court has issued arrest warrants for two senior police officials accused of negligence in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said today.

A COURT hearing for three suspects in the Russia spy case was postponed yesterday amid growing speculation the US and Russia are arranging a prisoner swap.

PROTESTERS clashed with riot police again yesterday around Iran’s parliament, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country won’t annul the results of last week’s disputed presidential election.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez accused today the US of trying to turn Venezuela’s military against him.

We have long enjoyed good relations with the Government and people of the United States. Indeed, much of our Celtic Tiger prosperity is thanks to this relationship with the Americans.

AT least one European state has admitted to handing over terrorism suspects to foreign agents, the Council of Europe said yesterday, citing a breach of the country’s human rights duties.

European Union politicians said tonight they may attempt to question senior CIA and Bush administration officials as part of a probe into allegations against the US intelligence agency.

Ukraine today vehemently denied the existence of secret prisons allegedly run by the US Central Intelligence Agency on Ukrainian soil.

US President George Bush reversed course last night and accepted calls for a law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror.

Russia’s lower house of parliament today took the first step toward approval of a bill that would prevent foreign-funded rights groups from operating in the country – a move sure to heighten criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s commitment to democracy.

THE Government said the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) presented a “disturbing picture” of ongoing criminality by both republican and loyalist groups.

The IRA remains heavily involved in criminality and is still training new members in how to use guns and handle bombs, according to an independent report released today.

At least two Cabinet ministers in Zimbabwe are suspected of passing official secrets to Western intelligence agencies seeking to spy on President Robert Mugabe’s government, the state Sunday Mail reported.

AN audio tape purportedly released by Osama bin Laden’s deputy calls for attacks on US and British interests everywhere, according to comments aired by Al-Jazeera TV yeterday.

An audio tape purportedly released by Osama bin Laden’s deputy calls for attacks on US and British interests everywhere, according to comments aired by Al-Jazeera TV today.

A headless corpse was found in Baghdad today hours after an al-Qaida-linked group boasted it had killed a second American hostage, leaving the Briton they are holding to face execution.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness ended a two-and-a-half-day visit to South Africa by paying tribute to the role of the African National Congress government in encouraging parties in Northern Ireland.

At least 10 people have been killed in a car bomb blast outside a Baghdad hotel.

THE Americans are promising democracy in Iraq, but at the same time they are saying that they are not going to allow a fundamentalist regime come to power there.

NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong-il visited an air base just hours after Iraq’s leadership crumbled and told pilots he was confident they could “beat back the enemy,” the North’s media reported yesterday.

George Tenet, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, has claimed Iraq has had contacts with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’ida network. Addressing the US Senate, Mr Tenet said the two have been in contact, but their associations may be limited to tactical opposition to the United States and the Saudi Arabian royal family.

The US Central Intelligence Agency has warned Afghanistan could descend into civil war unless rival warlords are restrained, according to reports in the US today.

A spokesman for the US Central Intelligence Agency has revealed that traces of anthrax have been found at the agency’s mail-handling building in its McLean, Virginia, headquarters.

Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has bankrolled Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime, it was reported today.

Israeli and Palestinian security commanders were meeting to try to agree on the next steps in the shaky US-sponsored truce, but each side expressed suspicions about the actions and intentions of the other.

Australia is advertising for young people to train as spies.

Ehud Barak has insisted that Israel would not discuss US peace proposals unless the Palestinian Authority reduces the level of violence and "incitement" against his country.