A Clondalkin painter and decorator been given an 11-year sentence by Judge Patricia Ryan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he was caught with heroin that had an estimated street value of almost €200,000.

Four US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said on Sunday.

The US Army, in a rare disciplinary act against a four-star officer, said today it relieved Gen Kevin Byrnes of his command in the midst of an investigation into unspecified “personal conduct".