Members of Congress are falling over one another to show their support for Israel.

A top US defence official today called China’s test of a satellite-killing weapon a display of an “obviously destabilising capability” that underlined the need for better communication to defuse possible conflict between the two powers.

Former US Presidential candidate Democratic Sen John Kerry today apologised for “a botched joke” about President George Bush’s Iraq policies that led Bush and fellow Republicans to accuse him of insulting US troops.