A 70-foot female blue whale that officials believe was struck by a ship washed ashore on the Northern California coast in what scientists are calling a rare occurrence.

President Barack Obama, confronting an inherited and faltering war, plans to dispatch thousands more military and civilian trainers to Afghanistan by the autumn on top of the 17,000 combat troops he has already ordered, senior administration officials said.

US president George Bush has approved the execution of a former army cook convicted of multiple rapes and murders.

A fourth person has been arrested in the abduction of a five-month-old girl from her adopted parents’ home in north-east Mississippi, authorities said.

US President George Bush, spending his Independence Day holiday with American fighting forces, said US troops will overcome persistent violence in Iraq and a rekindled insurgency in Afghanistan because the enemy is vulnerable.

US President George Bush will defend his Iraq policy in an address to the American nation tonight, hoping to drum up fading support for the war as his approval rating hits a record low.

US President George Bush today assured Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari “there’s not going to be any timetable” for withdrawal of American forces and vowed victory over insurgents attempting to prevent establishment of a democratic government.

A military jury in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, sentenced a soldier to death on Thursday for a grenade and rifle attack on his own comrades during the opening days of the Iraq invasion, a barrage that killed two officers and that prosecutors said was driven by religious extremism.

THE lawyer for Lynndie England, the US soldier pictured in humiliating photos of Iraqi detainees, asked a judge yesterday if he could call as a witness in her hearing the top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.

The lawyer for Lynndie England, the US soldier pictured in humiliating photos of Iraqi detainees, asked a judge today if he could call as a witness in her hearing the top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.

A military hearing opened today to determine if a heavily pregnant young soldier should be court-martialled for her actions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where she was photographed smiling and giving the thumbs-up sign in the presence of naked, hooded detainees.

Lawyers for Army Reservist Lynndie England claim she is being used as a scapegoat in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal, and they hope a military hearing this week will allow them to question senior officials they believe are responsible.

US soldier Lynndie England has appeared in court charged with abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.

A US soldier charged with abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison appeared in court today.

THE US military has announced more charges against Private Lynndie England, who faces a possible court martial over prisoner abuse in Iraq.

A US soldier accused of abusing Iraqis at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison faces more charges – this time for participating in sexually explicit photos.

FOR years, Tiger Woods heard his Green Beret father talk about life in the military and felt the stir of curiosity.

A teenage American woman soldier is among a dozen soldiers reported missing after a supply convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq, her father said.

Military officials in the United States are investigating a series of murders allegedly involving US special forces soldiers who served in Afghanistan.