A lawyer for one of three soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal asked a military judge today to order a new hearing because the turmoil of Iraq prevented him from being able to question witnesses.

US Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty today to three counts of abuse in the first court-martial stemming from the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.

A five-year-old boy has died after he was shut in a sofa bed by an uncle who did not realise the child had crawled into bed beside him.