China is rapidly extending its military reach, buying more long-range aircraft and weapons that will allow it to compete with the US and potentially pose a threat to other countries in the region, a Pentagon report said yesterday.

With formal peacemaking a dim prospect at this volatile time, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert intends to sound out US President George Bush today about Olmert’s ambitious plan to impose a West Bank settlement on the Palestinians.

The United States is considering establishing a missile defence system in Europe designed to stop a ballistic missile threat from the Middle East, the Pentagon said today.

THE US government dispatched its top two foreign policy officials to Iraq yesterday in a dramatic show of support for the country’s emerging government.

President George Bush’s top two national security officials made a surprise visit to Iraq today, showing support for the emerging government as the top US military commander there said some US troops may be able to leave in the months ahead.

US President George Bush has rebuffed recommendations from a growing number of retired generals that he replace Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “He has my full support,” said Bush.

AN engineer at a nuclear power plant has been charged with sending threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a country club where US President George W Bush was scheduled to appear yesterday for a Republican campaign event.

The court martial of a US Army dog handler charged with abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq could help clarify who approved the harsh treatment that human rights advocates say amounted to torture.

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S chief lawyer yesterday said that the deposed Iraqi president wanted British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush tried on allegations of committing war crimes.

Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer today said that the deposed Iraqi president wanted British prime minister Tony Blair and US president George Bush tried on allegations of committing war crimes.

A senior member of a European Parliament probe into alleged CIA secret prisons today said the EU investigation could call top US officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify.

Al-Qaida’s deputy leader said recent hints by American officials of a troop reduction in Iraq were “a victory for Islam,” in a videotape aired today.

LARGE demonstrations broke out across Iraq yesterday to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters called rigged in favour of the main religious Shi’ite coalition.

President George Bush has authorised new cuts in US combat troops in Iraq, below the 138,000 level that prevailed for most of this year, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

Iraqi officials repeatedly asked Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants if they had ever been beaten and they answered ’no’ every time, according to an investigative judge.

US Vice President Dick Cheney is adding his voice to the chorus of Republican criticism of Democrats who have accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to justify war against Iraq.

Roadside bombs killed two American soldiers in northern Baghdad and ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq’s capital, killing two Iraqis and wounding six others, officials said today.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today focused on cooperation between the US and Thailand as he met with Thai officials during a one-day stopover, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.

Militants ambushed a convoy carrying an Iraqi interior minister in the Baghdad today, killing a bodyguard and injuring three others.

South Korea told US officials it has no plans to launch “large-scale” economic co-operation with North Korea before the dispute over the communist state’s nuclear weapons programmes is resolved, the country’s foreign minister said today.

Pentagon officials are investigating new allegations by a civil liberties group that military interrogators at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay questioned detainees under the guise of friendlier FBI agents.

It has been confirmed that US Vice President Dick Cheney made a stopover at Shannon airport last night en route from Afghanistan.

COLIN Powell announced his decision to step down as US Secretary of State yesterday, marking the end of a period in office dogged by in-fighting.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, known as the odd man out in the Bush cabinet, has resigned, US TV networks have reported.

The US army is to court-martial eight months pregnant Private Lynndie England, one of the most recognisable figures in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

The Iraqi kidnapping scourge continued unabated today with the abduction of two Egyptians in Baghdad.

THE US Government is facing fresh claims that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials ignored warnings about the abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Russia reserves the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad in the wake of the school hostage seizure, Russia’s defence minister said today.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush has signed a $417.5 billion wartime defence bill, providing an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, body armour for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles.

IT is hard to avoid the perception that US army reservist Lynndie England is being used as a scapegoat in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal.

A US soldier charged with abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison appeared in court today.

DEFENCE lawyers for soldiers on trial in the Iraqi prisoner abuse case won permission yesterday to question two top American generals, and the military judge ordered that the Abu Ghraib prison not be torn down because it is a crime scene.

US FILM-MAKER Michael Moore yesterday launched an attack on British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the screening of his controversial new documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

US film maker Michael Moore launched his controversial new documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 today with a scathing attack on the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

US President George W Bush yesterday said that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “will stay in my Cabinet” despite calls for his resignation by Democrats in the wake of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American captors.

The new Spanish Socialist prime minister today abruptly ordered his troops home from Iraq.

PRESIDENT George Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after US forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decision would cause a furore he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book.

US President George W Bush was determined to "eliminate" al-Qaida before the September 11 attacks but there was no silver bullet that could have stopped the outrage, his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.

US National security adviser Condoleezza Rice will go before the federal panel reviewing the September 11 attacks next Thursday, it has been announced.

Haitian police arrested supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, launching the crackdown as the ousted leader flew back to the Caribbean on a private jet from exile in Africa.

Iraq’s US administrator, Paul Bremer has been recalled from Baghdad for brainstorming consultations at the White House and the United Nations, in a scramble to salvage a timetable for Iraqi self-rule.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned member states that “we may lose Afghanistan” unless they pull their weight to improve security there.

Interrogators are trying to get Saddam Hussein to confess to his crimes by showing him videos of mass graves, torture and executions under his rule, United States officials said today.

Saddam Hussein has been given the status of a prisoner of war, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.