Barack Obama today appealed to American voters struggling with the skyrocketing price of petrol, casting Republican rival John McCain as a Washington insider who is in part responsible for the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

FINE GAEL TD Lucinda Creighton has been criticised after comments she made attacking America’s stance on the EU were highlighted by a prominent US newspaper ahead of Mr Ahern’s speech.

AL-QAIDA terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has obtained a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb and is preparing for attack, a US newspaper claimed yesterday.

The US Army was reportedly examining a policy shake-up today which critics believe could send women soldiers into ground combat.

A TEAM of Chechen terrorists, possibly joined by al-Qaida operatives, may have illegally entered the United States across the Mexican border, it was reported yesterday.

Al-Qaida is moving ahead with plans for a “spectacular” attack in the United States in the coming months, intelligence sources were reported as saying today.

Al-Qaida is planning a high profile political assassination which will be sparked by the release of a new message from terror chief Osama bin Laden, it was reported today.

Al-Qaida fighters in Iraq are desperate to capture a female coalition soldier, it was reported today.

The US is moving a secret commando unit from Iraq to Afghanistan to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden, it was reported in Washington today.

Osama bin Laden is raising millions of pounds through the international drugs trade to fund his al Qaida terror network, US officials said today.

A tiny village in the US has passed a law demanding that the head of each household must own a gun and ammunition.

Israel has made plans to bomb an Iranian nuclear power plant if it begins producing weapons grade material, it was reported today.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair's rapturous reception in Congress yesterday was reflected in glowing praise in many of the US newspapers today.

A top al-Qaida terrorist has fled from Iraq to neighbouring Iran where he is being protected by the government along with several other senior figures from the network, it was reported today.

Al-Qaida terrorists and their supporters are set to use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in deadly strikes, a CIA report claims today.

Washington has abandoned plans to call a huge national congress of exiles and opposition leaders to form a new Iraq government, and will instead call a small council of Iraqis to be appointed by US occupation authorities.

US intelligence analysts have detected slight “increases of activity” around a North Korean nuclear plant but have made no “hard conclusions” on whether the country is reprocessing nuclear fuel for potential weapons use, US officials said yesterday.

North Korea has threatened the US that it plans to export nuclear weapons and test an atomic bomb, it was reported today.

The French government secretly supplied fleeing Iraqi officials with passports that allowed them to escape to Europe, The Washington Times reported today.

Iraqi civilians are preparing to take Allied commander Gen Tommy Franks to court in Belgium, accusing him and other US military officials of war crimes in Iraq, it was reported today.

US forces were just six miles from Baghdad today as the battle to topple Saddam Hussein entered a critical phase.

SPECIAL operations units in the US military have contacted Iraq’s notorious secret police to attempt to acquire documents which might show Baghdad’s links with al-Qaida.

Special operations units in the US military have contacted Iraq’s notorious secret police to attempt to acquire documents showing Baghdad’s links with al-Qaida, it was reported today.

FEARS grew yesterday that US troops captured in Iraq could face torture and sexual abuse.

US intelligence agents believe the al-Qaida terror network is planning a “spectacular” attack causing massive casualties, it was reported today.

Al-Qaida is planning a mass-casualty attack to rival September 11, but preparations have been disrupted by recent arrests of terror suspects, it was reported today.

The Pentagon is poised to call up 10,000 reserve troops ready for war against Iraq, military officials said today.

The Pentagon believes February will be the best time to launch a war against Iraq and expect defecting Iraqi units to help topple Saddam Hussein, it was reported today.

Security agencies in the US capital are on alert to a potential terrorist attack after a man video-taped the Washington Monument, Pentagon and other buildings, it was reported today.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is trying to buy special equipment used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons, it was reported today.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is trying to buy special equipment used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons, it was reported today.

More high school pupils in the United States are keeping their virginity following a government-backed campaign urging teenagers to avoid pre-maritial sex, it was claimed today by family values campaigners.

US intelligence agents are watching several groups of Middle Eastern men thought to be part of a network of as many as 5,000 al-Qaida terrorists in America, it was reported today.

Osama bin Laden has been hiding in a slum city on the Afghan-Pakistan border since last December, it was reported today.

US teachers have banned children from playing cops and robbers as part of a zero-tolerance crackdown on any signs of violence at school, it was reported today.

The first US pilot shot down in the Gulf War is still alive and being held captive in Iraq, it is reported today.

Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was in contact with the Iraqi Government just days before the US terror strikes, it has been claimed.

Russia has moved short-range nuclear weapons onto one of its military bases in the Baltics.

Russia is reported to be moving tactical nuclear weapons into a military base in Eastern Europe for the first time since the Cold War.