The US Pentagon has ordered an investigation into possible abuse at the Guantanamo Bay prison after a Marine officer said she overheard guards boasting about beating detainees.

The US said today it had transferred five detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Afghanistan.

On his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for “adverse news”, but urged them to stay optimistic, while a newspaper published the first photographs of the Cuban leader since his illness.

Communist officials have rallied hundreds in outdoor meetings to publicly declare their support for ailing leader Fidel Castro to reassure Cubans’ worried about their long-ruling leader.

FIDEL CASTRO rose to power after an armed revolution he led drove out then-president Fulgencio Batispta.

FIDEL CASTRO, who has wielded absolute power over Cuba for 47 years, remained out of sight yesterday amid uncertainty surrounding his health following intestinal surgery.

Fidel Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959, rebuffed repeated US attempts to oust him and survived communism’s demise almost everywhere else, temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul last night because of surgery.

Offering a glimpse into the top-secret world of Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon has released the names and home countries of many detainees who have been held at the isolated military prison for up to four years.

Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by touching them sexually, wearing miniskirts and thongs, according to an insider’s written account.

Two British men released from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay say interrogators forced prisoners to strip, chained them to a floor for hours and used deafening music and dogs to extract confessions.

A US Army Islamic chaplain who counselled al-Qaida prisoners at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba has been detained as part of a military investigation, officials said.

A Cuban train with 800 passengers ran off the rails and crashed as it neared a station today, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 70.

Nearly 90 al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners at Camp X-Ray were still believed to be on hunger strike today, despite a concession by their American guards over the wearing of turbans.

New detainees from Afghanistan are today due to arrive at the US naval base detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where troops have built new chain-link cells to double the occupancy, military officials said.