Saying the US “does not surrender to blackmail,” a judge in New York ruled today that pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America’s image.

Al-Qaida is the main enemy to peace and stability in the Middle East and the terrorist group is seeking to acquire – and use – weapons of mass destruction there, a top US commander in Iraq told the US Congress.

US President George Bush today threw more resources at the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast as criticism mounted that a slow response by the government had contributed to the misery of thousands of people in the region.

Anti-war activists spoke out in protest at today's visit to Ireland by the head of the US defence forces.

The visit of US Joint Chief of Staff Richard Myers to Dublin today has been condemned by the Irish anti-war community.

A SUICIDE car bomber, who targeted American soldiers as they gave sweets to children and detonated his vehicle, killed up to 27 other people yesterday.

The pilot of a US Air Force U-2 spy plane died in a crash while returning to a base in southwest Asia, the military said today.

Terrorism suspects held in the US Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being dealt with “humanely” and with “dignity,” the nation’s top military officer says in disputing reported abuses.

AMERICAN fighter jets flattened a suspected insurgent safe house near the Syrian border and hundreds of US troops conducted house-to-house searches in remote desert villages for followers militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

IRAQ’S newly-elected president expects US troops to have completely withdrawn from the country within two years.

Iraq’s newly-elected president expects US troops to have completely withdrawn from the country within two years.

The suspected suicide attack inside a US Army mess hall in Iraq represents a breach of the most basic principles of military security and points to significant weaknesses in the screening of Iraqis who are allowed onto the base, US experts say.

Iraq will bring top figures of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime to court next week for the first time since they appeared before a judge five months ago, and formal indictments could be issued next month.

US FORCES said yesterday that 600 insurgents had been killed in their ongoing assault on the city of Fallujah, but acknowledged success in the city won't break Iraq's insurgency.

American and Iraqi troops, backed by warplanes and artillery, were today squeezing Sunni fighters into a smaller and smaller corner in Fallujah where about 600 rebels have been killed in the offensive.

They are the warriors in Afghanistan’s new war – a small team of specially-trained Afghan soldiers working with British advisers to attack opium smuggling which has flourished since the fall of the Taliban.

Blindsided by terrorists and beset by poor communications, US officials were so slow to react on September 11, 2001, that the last of four hijacked planes had crashed by the time Vice President Dick Cheney ordered hostile aircraft shot down.

Plagued by miscommunication and confusion, the Pentagon’s air-defence command missed an opportunity to possibly intercept at least one of the hijacked planes on September 11, the federal panel reviewing the attacks said today.

Donald Rumsfeld, making a surprise visit to Iraq said lawyers were advising the Pentagon not to release any more photographs of Iraqi prisoners being treated badly by US soldiers.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, making a surprise visit to the Iraqi prison at the centre of the abuse scandal, said today lawyers were advising the Pentagon not to publicly release any more photographs of Iraqi prisoners being treated badly by US soldiers.

Lawyers are advising the Defence Department not to publicly release any more photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US soldiers, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today at the outset of a hastily-arranged visit to Iraq aimed at containing the abuse scandal.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad today on an unannounced visit aimed at calming the storm over prisoner abuse.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended military interrogation techniques in Iraq today, rejecting complaints that they violated international rules and may endanger Americans taken prisoner.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush issued a strong endorsement yesterday of embattled Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, telling him after a meeting at the Pentagon: “You are doing a superb job.”

President George Bush issued a strong endorsement of embattled Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld today, telling him after a meeting at the Pentagon: “You are doing a superb job.”

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was heckled at a Senate Committee today as he apologised to Iraqis tortured by US military in a Baghdad prison.

President George Bush, struggling to control a growing crisis, apologised for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers and called it “a stain on our country’s honour”.

The Pentagon is pursuing five separate investigations into claims that Iraqi prisoners were abused.

THE appointment of an Iraqi general to head the brigade taking over from US forces besieging Fallujah was reduced to farce yesterday.

The appointment of an Iraqi general to head the brigade taking over from US forces besieging Fallujah was reduced to farce today.

Eleven US troops were killed in attacks across Iraq, including a mortar barrage in which six soldiers died and 30 were wounded.

US warplanes and artillery attacked Sunni insurgents in a thunderous show of force that rocked Fallujah, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the night sky.

THE war in Iraq, which is costing the US $4.7 billion per month, is being pushed over budget by the increased violence, threatening a $4bn shortfall by late summer.

An intense manhunt will ultimately net the United States' Public Enemy Number One, Osama bin Laden, but there is no telling how long the hunt might take, the country’s top soldier said today.

Gunmen assassinated an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad just as Iran, with tacit US approval, attempted to mediate with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr defying American forces in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.

More US troops could be sent to Iraq and other US forces could stay longer than planned to deal with the latest surge in violence, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

Mark Sage, New York

A ROADSIDE bomb killed two US soldiers in Baghdad yesterday, hours after troops captured a former general in Saddam Hussein’s security services on charges of recruiting ex-soldiers to attack Americans.

The US government is raising the national threat warning from yellow, the midpoint on its five-colour scale, to orange, a federal official said today.

US troops rounded up suspected rebels today during house-to-house searches in strongholds of Saddam Hussein, capitalising on intelligence gleaned from the capture of the former Iraqi dictator.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is questioning whether America has failed to take “truly bold moves” in Iraq and Afghanistan and asking the Pentagon to rethink its strategy.

US CONGRESSIONAL Democrats’ support for President Bush’s $87 billion request comes with a price: they want him to spell out details of his overall Iraq strategy.

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S notorious henchman Ali Hassan al-Majid dubbed "Chemical Ali" has been captured in Iraq.

Former Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali for his use of poison gas in attacks, has been captured, a US official said today.