A US Marine Corps squad leader has been charged with murdering 12 people and ordering other Marines under his command to kill six people during an incident that left 24 civilians dead in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year.

Psychics believe they have made contact with late Beatle John Lennon in a controversial pay-per-view television séance set to be broadcast in the US.

Police seized 18 kilogrammes of commercial explosives and eight handguns during a raid at a house in south Belfast, a court heard today.