Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts, who suggested she was detained by police because of racial profiling after she was found in a parked car with her boyfriend, has been charged with lewd conduct.

An actress who appeared in Django Unchained said she was misidentified as a prostitute by police when she was only showing affection to her white companion.

CRUMBLING homes and abandoned houses are causing havoc in towns, TDs said yesterday, as it emerged there are nearly 1,300 derelict properties around the country.

Nine people died and 14 were seriously wounded in a gas tanker explosion in west Baghdad just hours after a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A gas tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighbourhood, killing one person, wounding 19 and lighting up the night sky with a fireball just hours after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the Iraqi capital.