An American-born cleric killed in Yemen played a “significant operational role” in plotting and inspiring attacks on the US, officials said, as they disclosed detailed intelligence to justify the killing of a US citizen.

The US Army is reprimanding nine officers for leadership failures in connection with the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, and their failure to detect problems with the accused shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

A student in Britain who tried to murder a Labour MP after being inspired by a radical al Qaida cleric linked to the air cargo bomb plot is due to be sentenced today.

The British government's emergency committee COBRA is to meet this morning to discuss security after suspicious packages were found at East Midlands airport and on a plane in Dubai.

THE US was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a report compiled by the former heads of the 9/11 commission.

The US was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a new report.

A driver caught stealing beer from his warehouse agreed to resign then as “cold as ice” went on a shooting rampage, killing eight people and wounding two before committing suicide.

A WAREHOUSE driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage yesterday morning that left nine people dead, including himself, and others wounded, company and government officials said.

A man calmly drew a gun and fired at the tube station entrance to the Pentagon complex, shooting two police officers before being fatally wounded.

Al-Qaida can be expected to attempt an attack on America in the next three to six months, intelligence chiefs told the US Congress.

The US Army will conduct an internal investigation to examine whether it missed warning signs about Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people in the November 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, two newspapers reported.

The lawyer for the Army psychiatrist accused of killing fellow soldiers at Fort Hood says doctors have told the soldier he may be paralysed from the waist down.

The suspected shooter said to have killed 13 people and wounded 30 others on a US army base has regained consciousness and is talking, a hospital official has said.

AFTER mistaken reports in the aftermath of the shooting at Fort Hood in Texas that the gunmen responsible for the killings was shot dead, it has emerged that suspect Nadil Malik Hasan is alive and being treated at the base hospital.

Movie star Alec Baldwin has offered to pay for a teenage soldier's education after being moved by her story.

Prosecutors in Private Lynndie England’s prison abuse case portrayed her in closing arguments today as an eager participant with a “sick” sense of humour, while defence lawyers described her as a weak-minded pawn trying to appease a sadistic boyfriend.

A jury of five Army officers was expected to hear closing arguments and begin deliberating today whether Pfc. Lynndie England is guilty of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003.

US Private Lynndie England suffered from depression and her mental condition, coupled with an overly compliant personality, made her a heedless participant in abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, a psychologist told her military trial.

Two former guards convicted in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal testified at US Army Pfc. Lynndie England’s military trial that she was impressionable and under the sway of her soldier boyfriend, Private Charles Graner, labelled the ringleader of detainee abuse by the prosecution.

US President George Bush today threw more resources at the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast as criticism mounted that a slow response by the government had contributed to the misery of thousands of people in the region.

A MILITARY jury convicted US army reservist Sabrina Harman early yesterday on all but one of the seven charges she faced for her role at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

A military jury convicted US army reservist Sabrina Harman early today on all but one of the seven charges she faced for her role in abuses at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

A military judge threw out Private Lynndie England’s guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the US Army reservist who appeared in some of the most notorious photos in the scandal knew her actions were wrong at the time.

A US military judge tonight threw out Private First Class Lynndie England’s guilty plea to Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, saying he was not convinced she knew that her actions were wrong at the time.

Defence lawyers appealed for leniency for Private Lynndie England at a hearing to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, saying the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech-impaired and had trouble learning to read.

Jury selection started today for the panel that will recommend a sentence for Army Reserve Private First Class Lynndie England, who pleaded guilty to mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison camp in Iraq.

Pfc. Lynndie England took responsibility for the smiling, thumbs-up poses she struck for photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison camp, which made her the face of the prisoner abuse scandal.

Pfc Lynndie England, who appeared in some of the most graphic photographs depicting physical mistreatment and sexual humiliation of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, pleaded guilty today to charges arising from her role in the abuse scandal.

Lynndie England will plead guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, her lawyer said today, about a year after photos of her sexually humiliating inmates made her the face of a scandal that damaged the credibility of the United States military.

A former Abu Ghraib guard today pleaded guilty to three charges in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal – the day before his trial as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

THE US soldier labelled the ringleader in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal started a 10-year jail sentence yesterday.

The soldier labelled the ringleader in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal started a 10-year prison sentence today, following his conviction by a military jury.

US soldier Charles Graner, said to be the ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Baghdad’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, is facing up to 15 years behind bars today after being found guilty of abusing Iraqi detainees.

A Syrian inmate at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq testified in a videotape played for a US jury that Army Specialist Charles Graner merrily whistled, sang and laughed while brutalising him and forced him to eat pork and drink alcohol, against his Muslim faith.

President George Bush remained on the defenisve today insisting there was no warning in a pre-September 11 intelligence memo before the nation’s worst terrorism attack.

US forces moved a step closer to the most wanted man in Saddam Hussein’s regime yesterday, detaining his four nephews in a pre-dawn raid and capturing another top fugitive thought to be a paymaster in the anti-coalition insurgency.

Iraqi security forces, backed by US military police, carried out their largest joint raid today in a bid to break the resistance movement in Saddam Hussein’s turbulent home town.

The two most successful artists at the Academy of Country Music Awards continued their winning ways, with Alan Jackson capturing album of the year for Drive, as well as a video honour, and Brooks & Dunn being named top vocal duo.

UP to 120,000 extra US troops are to be sent to Iraq as Allied leaders faced the prospect of a drawn-out siege of Baghdad. News of the deployment came after the Iraqis promised their capital would become a graveyard for the coalition.

THE family of a US airman paraded on Iraqi television after his Apache helicopter was forced down during heavy fighting, yesterday spoke of their hopes that he would return home unharmed.

Iraqi television last night showed the two crewmen from the US Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting in central Iraq.

After weeks of waiting off Turkey’s coast, dozens of American ships carrying weaponry for the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division have been redirected to the Persian Gulf, two US defence officials said today.

One focus of attention in the investigation into the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia is possible damage to its protective thermal tiles on the left wing from a flying piece of debris during lift-off on January 16.

President George Bush rallied US troops at the largest US Army base today, telling soldiers who might see action against Iraq: “We are ready, we are prepared.”