A former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff is under investigation for allegedly leaking classified information about a covert cyber-attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff met with Iraqi officials today in the first such visit by America’s top general since troops withdrew from the country in December.

Hillary Clinton said today that relations between the United States and Pakistan have reached a turning point after the killing of Osama bin Laden, and Islamabad must make “decisive steps” in the days ahead to fight terrorism.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan today to repair badly-frayed relations after the killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden at a hideout not far from Islamabad.

North Korea warned today that US-South Korean co-operation could bring nuclear war to the region.

IN secret and with remarkable speed, North Korea has built a new, highly sophisticated facility to enrich uranium, according to an American nuclear scientist, raising fears that the North is ramping up its atomic programme despite international pressure.

THE chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has said the US military has a plan to attack Iran, but thinks a strike is probably a bad idea.

A bicycle bomb killed 13 people in Afghanistan today as they gathered to get free vegetable seeds as part of a British drive to discourage opium poppy growing.

A remote-controlled bomb targeting a police convoy killed 12 people today in western Afghanistan, a day after three American soldiers died in a complex militant ambush in the country’s east.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta said the US does not know the location of all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons but is confident there are “pretty secure” measures to keep them out of terrorists’ hands.

Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another US cargo ship in a failed hijack attempt.

DEBRIS from an obliterated US spy satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth, a senior military officer said yesterday, hours after a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the failing spacecraft.

Hundreds of mourners wept today as villagers buried victims of a horrific suicide bombing at a Pakistan election rally, an attack that killed 27 people and stoked fears about security ahead of next week’s crucial parliamentary election.

The chief of the US military said the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison camp should be closed as soon as possible because negative publicity about the treatment of terror suspects had been “pretty damaging” to America’s image.

The resurgent Taliban militia are a tactical problem for the US-led coalition but cannot not take over Afghanistan again, a top US general said, as the US-led coalition today reported that two of its soldiers were wounded in the volatile south.

The war on terror will continue long after Iraq and Afghanistan are stable, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told military officials from around the world today.

IRAQI forces have launched a new security operation against insurgents in the Baghdad area.

THE bodies of 13 American troops have been recovered from the crash of a US helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, but seven more soldiers are unaccounted for and some may have been captured.

AMERICAN fighter jets flattened a suspected insurgent safe house near the Syrian border and hundreds of US troops conducted house-to-house searches in remote desert villages for followers militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

NORTEL Networks Corp, North America’s largest maker of telephone equipment, fired chief executive Frank Dunn because of accounting mistakes and said it may have to reduce last year’s earnings 50%.

China announced today an 11.6% increase in military spending for 2004, a bigger increase than last year in an age when the People’s Liberation Army is racing to make itself competitive and adapt to a hi-tech world.

US troops rounded up suspected rebels today during house-to-house searches in strongholds of Saddam Hussein, capitalising on intelligence gleaned from the capture of the former Iraqi dictator.

Saddam Hussein loyalists rioted in Baghdad, ambushed a US patrol in Samarra, stormed the office of a US-backed mayor in Fallujah and battled American troops in Ramadi as cities in Iraq’s “Sunni Triangle” region seethed over the ex-dictator’s capture.

The US army’s claim that 54 Iraqis were killed in two deadly ambushes in the northern town of Samarra was disputed by Iraqi residents today.

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S notorious henchman Ali Hassan al-Majid dubbed "Chemical Ali" has been captured in Iraq.

Former Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali for his use of poison gas in attacks, has been captured, a US official said today.

COALITION forces have taken custody of the Iraqi scientist known as ‘Dr Germ’ for her work in creating weapons-grade anthrax, according to Pentagon officials, who said they also had initial field reports that the head of Saddam Hussein’s military has been captured.

The new US civilian administrator for Iraq arrived today to take over the job of putting the country back together again.

THE US-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein may have killed about 2,000 Iraqi civilians. In Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the ensuing Gulf War, as many as 100,000 noncombatants perished.

The US defence secretary has denied reports the United States has plans to establish permanent military bases in post-war Iraq.

Coalition troops were struggling to bring stability back to Iraq today as ethnic clashes and more looting broke out across the country.

American special forces today raided the Baghdad home of the female microbiologist nicknamed Dr Germ who ran Iraq’s secret biological laboratory.

Tracer fire, explosives and burning buildings lit up an otherwise blacked-out Baghdad early today as a new round of explosions in the centre of the city sent huge plumes of smoke into the sky.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was today seeking an agreement with Turkish leaders to keep them from sending troops into northern Iraq.

Allied soldiers inched towards Baghdad today, capturing or killing paramilitary and Republican Guard defenders while new waves of US bombs set off blazes in the Iraqi capital.

ALLIED aircraft kept up relentless pressure on Iraqi positions in and around Baghdad last night, as US military leaders fended off growing criticism of their war plans and insisted the campaign was still on course.

THE shooting down of a US un-manned spy plane yesterday was the latest in a series of hostile acts by the Iraqi regime, American military officials said

A Muslim extremist group has offered to hold final negotiations to release two Americans and a Filipino nurse they have held hostage for more than 11 months, a radio station reported today.

US and British special forces helped Northern Alliance fighters battling captured loyalists of Osama bin Laden for a third day today in a sprawling mud-walled fortress in northern Afghanistan.

Tony Blair was gearing up today for another week of hectic diplomacy in an efforts to maintain the international consensus for the military action against Afghanistan.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has confirmed that more US ground troops have been deployed in Afghanistan following the carpet-bombing of Taliban frontline positions over the last week.

Osama bin Laden today continued to taunt the United States-led coalition ranged against him with a new video message accusing the allies of ‘‘exterminating’’ innocent Afghan civilians.

Taliban forces battled advancing opposition fighters outside the key city of Mazar-e-Sharif today, fighting to keep control of the northern base.

Anti-aircraft fire crackled in the night sky over Kabul, signalling the start of a second night of attacks by the US and British coalition.