Benazir Bhutto’s enraged supporters burned vehicles and attacked shops across Pakistan after the charismatic former prime minister was shot and killed today by an assassin as she waved to supporters from the sunroof of her armored vehicle.

Burma’s main political and economic allies, China and Japan, joined other nations around the world in urging the country to use peaceful means to restore stability.

There were signs that pro-democracy protests could be weakening in Burma after soldiers and police took control of the streets, firing warning shots to scatter the few demonstrators who ventured out and sealing off Buddhist monasteries.

US President George Bush plans to visit the site of a bridge collapse in Minneapolis today after Congress voted to direct $250m (€181m) for the structure to be rebuilt.

Congress approved new laws to step up anti-terror efforts in the US, shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo.

US President George Bush reclaimed the powers of his office today after handing them to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours while he had colon cancer screening under sedation.

A federal building close to the White House was vacuated today because of a bomb scare.

Iraqi authorities have reported the arrests of two guards and an official who supervised Saddam Hussein's hanging and said the guard force was infiltrated by outsiders who taunted the former leader and shot the video showing his body dangling at the end of a rope.

The Bush administration today sent conflicting signals about the taunting and baiting that accompanied Saddam Hussein’s execution as the White House did not join criticism of the former Iraqi president’s hanging and the state department and US military raised questions about it.

The number of American deaths in the Iraq war has reached the milestone of 3,000 as the Bush administration seeks to overhaul its strategy for an unpopular conflict that shows little sign of abating.

US President George Bush called Saddam Hussein's execution a milestone on Iraq's road to democracy, but warned it would not halt the bloodshed and political discord splitting the country.

US President George Bush went to his Texan ranch today to rethink his strategy in Iraq as the US death toll in the country passed that of the September 11 attacks.

Running even just 20 days before the election, President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry are looking for any edge in their third and final debate tonight.

JOHN KERRY is pressing US President George W Bush on national security issues, raising questions about the handling of probes into terrorist attacks as well as intelligence suggesting weapons of mass destruction were in Iraq.

US TV network CNN has begun airing excerpts from a cache of video tapes acquired in Afghanistan that purport to show al-Qaida terror training, bomb-making and poison gas experiments on dogs.

President George W Bush today sent Christmas greetings to US troops fighting the war on terrorism and to families who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks. ‘‘America grieves with you,’’ he said.