A powerful bomb tore open several Oslo buildings, including the prime minister’s office today, killing at least one person.

Norway’s public broadcaster NRK says one person has been confirmed killed in an explosion at the government headquarters in Oslo.

A clash of cultures over a dozen caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper is escalating – with protests in London, an eruption of fury in the Middle East and Asia, and European newspapers reprinting the cartoons in support of freedom of expression.

A US military helicopter crashed west of Baghdad today, killing one soldier, and gunmen shot dead a Kurd as ethnic tension gripped the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

US forces in Iraq have captured one of the most senior members of Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, US defence officials said.

THE United States yesterday alleged that members of a group associated with al-Qaida had been operating freely in Baghdad for eight months.