Weary rescuers have battled rain and exhaustion in the search for more bodies - and perhaps a miracle – among the pile of filth and debris that laid waste to a Washington town and killed at least 25 people.

The number of people missing from a community wiped out by a mudslide has been reduced to 90 as the families and friends of those still unaccounted for confronted the reality that some may never be found.

A National Guardsman betrayed his country and fellow soldiers when he tried to pass military information to undercover agents he believed were al-Qaida terrorists, prosecutors said at the start of his court-martial.

A video showing an American soldier sharing military information with undercover agents he believed to be al-Qaida members is expected to be among key evidence in his court martial, beginning today.