Afghan police tonight arrested the suspected mastermind behind a "brutal" attack on a UN compound in the country which has killed around 20 people.

A day of mourning for nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11 attacks began with moments of silence and tears near Ground Zero in New York.

Bells tolled throughout New York City and mourners observed a moment of silence to mark the time terrorists began their attack on the US nine years ago.

A Florida pastor said today his church will never burn a Koran, even if a mosque is built near Ground Zero.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama last night appealed for religious tolerance amid the Koran-burning controversy.

PASTOR Terry Jones seems like an unlikely candidate for the title of America’s Enemy No 1, but that is what he has become, almost overnight, in his attempt to lead his band of Christian soldiers against the sword of Islam.

TERRY JONES this week became America’s most inconvenient public figure – who seems hell-bent on getting across his message to the world.

The pastor who planned an “International Burn-a-Koran Day” is still hopeful of meeting the imam overseeing plans for a controversial Islamic centre in New York for talks.

The pastor who planned an “International Burn-a-Koran Day” tonight publicly challenged the imam overseeing plans for a controversial Islamic centre in New York to start talks.

The pastor who planned an “International Burn-a-Koran Day” will instead fly to New York to try to meet the imam overseeing plans for a controversial Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

THE leader of a tiny US church said yesterday he was determined to burn copies of the Koran on September 11, despite pleas from the White House, the military, the Vatican and Angelina Jolie.

The leader of a tiny US church said today he was determined to burn copies of the Koran on September 11, despite pleas from the White House, the military, the Vatican and Angelina Jolie.

THE US commander of the Afghan war warned yesterday that a decision by American evangelicals to burn the Koran on September 11 would endanger his troops as the Muslim world reacted angrily to the plan.

The top US commander in Afghanistan warned that a US church’s threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger US troops and Americans worldwide.

Thousands of Indonesian muslims rallied outside the US Embassy in Jakarta today to denounce a US church’s plan to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by burning copies of the Koran.

Florida's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy gave information about three more murders shortly before being executed in Louisiana. News reports suggested the note was a confession.

A man has been charged with animal cruelty for biting his Jack Russell terrier as punishment, and police say he used a 200 pound bull mastiff in an attempt to keep back officers who arrived to arrest him.

A man jumped in a pond and stabbed a six-foot long alligator in the eye with a pocket-knife to force it to release his dog from its jaws.

RUNNING legend Grete Waitz has questioned whether Sonia O'Sullivan still has the required hunger for Olympic success

The Tribute of Light memorial to the World Trade Centre victims will go dark this weekend despite a campaign to keep it on, organisers said today.

The Virginia Beach community was today in a state of shock after a shark killed a 10-year-old boy in the first fatal shark attack in the United States this year.