NORTH KOREA said yesterday it convicted and sentenced an American man to eight years in a labour prison and a fine equivalent to €524,000 for entering the country illegally and unspecified hostile acts.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today underlined Western anxieties about Iran's nuclear programme following the surprise election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the Islamic state's new president.

Ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won Iran's presidency by an overwhelming vote, decisively shutting reformists out of government and threatening to lead the country back toward the restrictions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 20 people were killed when four explosions tore through the Moroccan coastal city of Casablanca damaging a synagogue, the Belgian consulate and a Spanish restaurant, officials said.