Distraught families have been told that 30 people still missing after the fiery crash of a runaway oil train are all presumed dead.

Italian commandos, aided by Nato forces and aircraft, rescued two kidnapped Italian intelligence agents in a daring ambush and gunbattle that left at least nine of the captors dead in western Afghanistan today.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is stepping aside as chairman of his Social Democratic Party, a move that comes amid stubbornly low poll ratings and squabbling over the government’s future reform course.

THERE were trebles for jockey John Thomas McNamara and trainer Enda Bolger at a successful Limerick Harriers Hunt Point-to-Point at Lemonfield yesterday.