Claims by Iraqi asylum seekers that they were mistreated by British officials before being deported back to Iraq are to be investigated by the UN refugee agency.

RIOTING has killed several hundred people in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said yesterday, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the interim government.

Germany has evacuated 89 westerners, including 31 Americans and 40 Europeans, from the violence-torn city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

UN aid agencies today called on the government of Yemen and rebels to ensure humanitarian access to civilians caught up in fighting that flared up in the north last month.