DEMOCRATS challenged Republicans for control of Congress for US President George W Bush’s final two years in office last night in elections shadowed by war in Iraq and scandal at home.

THE number of children worldwide who have lost one or more parents to Aids is expected to reach 25 million by the end of the decade, activist groups said in Washington.

A Washington meeting to discuss the proposed transatlantic link-up of British Airways and American Airlines turned into a grilling of US airline chiefs over security following the September 11 terror attacks.