A US military chief ordered his subordinates to destroy any photographs of Osama bin Laden’s body or turn them over to the CIA, 11 days after the the al Qaida founder was killed in 2011, a newly-released email shows.

NORTH POLE: Many of us cannot recall the last time we got a letter in the post, but Santa will this year receive a record 8m of them, the UPU has said.

While he was vice-president in the previous US administration, Dick Cheney repeatedly insisted the US needed to bomb the Iranians to snuff out their nuclear ambitions; so did senator John McCain and innumerable other politicians — Republican and Democrat, domestic and foreign.

James Gandolfini’s portrayal of criminal Tony Soprano in the landmark drama series The Sopranos was just one facet of an actor who created a rich legacy of film and stage work in a life cut short.

Barack Obama warned that looming automatic spending cuts were already affecting America’s economy and the nation’s homeland security chief said borders would be less secure if billions of dollars were yanked from the budget on Friday.

Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the US military’s ban on women serving in combat, senior defence officials have said.

The White House has confirmed it will go ahead with the nomination of General John Allen to become commander of Nato forces in Europe.

The top US commander in Afghanistan has been cleared of sending inappropriate emails to a woman linked to the sex scandal that forced David Petraeus to quit as CIA director.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised the UK will do everything it can to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the "brutal and savage" attack in Algeria.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to cut short his first foreign visit since taking office to focus on the Algerian hostage crisis.

Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict’s private secretary, who has been dubbed “Gorgeous Georg” by the Italian media, is now a real-life cover boy.

French troops pressed northwards in Mali today, towards territory occupied for months by Islamist militants, military officials said, announcing the start of a land assault which will put soldiers in direct combat “within hours”.

President Barack Obama and Afghan president Hamid Karzai have agreed to speed up the schedule for moving Afghanistan’s security forces into the lead across the country, with US troops shifting fully to a support role.

The US has signalled it might not leave any troops in Afghanistan after its pull out, in spite of the Pentagon claiming thousands may be needed to contain al-Qaida.

US President Barack Obama will nominate Republican Chuck Hagel as his next defence secretary, a senior administration official said tonight.

President Barack Obama has nominated Senator John Kerry, one of Washington’s most respected voices on foreign policy, as his next secretary of state.

A US Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said.

The Pentagon has said it will send Patriot air defence missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a Nato force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack.

A suicide car bomber has killed two Afghan civilians and wounded 14 others near the main US military base in southern Afghanistan.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta says America’s fight against al Qaida terrorists is taking a new direction – moving beyond declared war zones like Afghanistan and requiring more partnering with foreign commandos.

US President Barack Obama has launched a three-day Southeast Asia tour, hailing alliances with countries such as Thailand as cornerstones of the administration’s deeper commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.

US president Barack Obama has said he has no evidence the scandal that ended David Petraeus’s career has had a negative impact on US national security.

The sex scandal that felled CIA Director David Petraeus widened to ensnare the top US commander in Afghanistan, an improbable drama unfolding at a critical time in the Afghan war effort and just as President Barack Obama was hoping for a smooth transition in his national security team.

The sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus has widened, with the top US commander in Afghanistan under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from General Petraeus’ former lover.

FBI agents are at the home of the woman whose affair with retired General David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director.

US president Barack Obama will make his first comments on the economy and the financial crisis today as the White House makes the issue its top post-election priority.

The US military did not intervene quickly during the attack on America's consulate in Libya because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put their forces at risk, defence secretary Leon Panetta said.

A 28-year-old Tunisian reportedly linked to the attack on the US consulate in Libya in which the American ambassador was killed has been arrested, the Tunisian government confirmed today.

Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and his administration chiefs over their evolving description of the deadly September 11 attack on the US consulate in Libya.

The 33,000 additional US troops that President Barack Obama ordered to Afghanistan to stamp out the Taliban attacks nearly two years ago have now left the country, but a new wave of deadly insider attacks and a reassessment of how Nato troops partner with Afghans have raised questions about how well the military strategy is working.

After a 25-year ban, America will begin allowing Royal New Zealand Navy ships to visit US military and Coast Guard facilities around the world, US defence secretary Leon Panetta said.

Another Nato soldier was killed yesterday by an Afghan police officer, raising the coalition death toll from so-called “green on blue” shootings to nine in 11 days as the US urged Kabul to step up screening of recruits.

Iran is playing a growing role supporting the Syrian regime and is helping to build and train a militia to fight opposition forces, US defence chiefs say.

Regime forces strafed rebel-held districts in Aleppo with helicopter gunships and pounded them with shelling on the third day of a pitched battle for Syria’s commercial capital.

More than 200,000 Syrians have fled the city of Aleppo amid intense clashes between regime forces bombarding rebels who have seized large swathes of the city.

The UN Security Council has delayed a vote on a new Syria resolution until tomorrow in a last-minute effort to get key Western nations and Russia to reach agreement on measures to end the escalating violence.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli president Shimon Peres have discussed the need to halt Syrian violence as well as blocking Iran’s potential production of nuclear weapons during talks in Jerusalem.

Pakistan is reopening supply lines into Afghanistan after the US issued an apology for the November killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a Nato airstrike, the Obama administration said.

The US is heaping new pressure on Russia to change course and support international action in Syria, warning that intransigence by Moscow may lead to open civil war that could spill across the Middle East with devastating consequences.

The White House and the Pentagon voiced regrets today for newly published photographs that claim to show US troops posing with the bodies of dead insurgents in Afghanistan.

Another set of photographs apparently showing US troops posing with the bodies of dead insurgents in Afghanistan has been published.

The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn shooting rampage was named last night as Staff Sgt Robert Bales.

Nato-led troops should pull back from rural areas and villages to main bases and Afghan troops should take the lead for countrywide security in 2013, president Hamid Karzai said today.

The American soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn rampage has been flown to Kuwait, it has emerged.