US missile defence experts today visited a Russian-operated radar station in Azerbaijan that Moscow is offering to share to counter potential missile threats from nations including Iran, but a top US general suggested its technology was outdated.

Ukraine denied today that some of its scientists had sold suitcase sized nuclear weapons to the al-Qaida terror group.

The question of whether to use military force against Iraq should only be decided after weapons inspectors have finished their work, Russia’s Defence Minister said last night.

A senior Russian admiral says 23 sailors in the Kursk may have suffered through three days of agony waiting in vain for a rescue that never came.