The US military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States, apparently in a dispute over medical care costs.

The US Navy today began its largest demonstration of force in the Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, deploying two aircraft carriers and conducting simulated aerial attacks.

British sailors seized today in Iraqi territorial waters were taken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy, a radical force that operates independently from the regular Iranian Navy, a US official said.

The US Navy is launching an investigation into how a nuclear-powered submarine hit a Japanese merchant ship near the busy shipping lanes of the Straits of Hormuz.

Fighting erupted today on the outskirts of Somalia's militant Islamic movement's last remaining stronghold as thousands fled advancing Ethiopian troops supported by tanks and MiG fighter jets.