THE US Marines have identified the unit whose forces are suspected of being behind a video appearing to show them urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban in Afghanistan, according to a Marine officer.

The Afghan Taliban say they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there that could have a key role in peace talks to end more than a decade of war.

A Nato service member has died in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said today.

Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi will not be able to produce more crude oil for at least another four weeks and are taking steps to conserve precious supplies of fuel and money, the top oil official in the breakaway east said.

The parents of the woman whom Wayne Rooney allegedly paid £1,200 (€1,459) a time for sex apologised to the footballer’s wife, Coleen, today.

Jordan today announced the arrest of more than 20 Hamas activists for allegedly smuggling weapons to attack targets in the kingdom and warned the Palestinian Hamas-led government of the consequences of any terrorist activity.

A defence lawyer in the Saddam Hussein case who was wounded in an ambush today said he had fled the country and was appealing to the ruler of the Gulf state of Qatar to grant him asylum.

A team from the international Red Cross visited ousted and imprisoned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein today to see his conditions in US custody.

General Tommy Franks, chief of US Central Command, said today that his troops are ready to launch operations in Iraq – if Washington asks them to.

A US war game that many believe is a rehearsal for invading Iraq began today in the Gulf state of Qatar.

President Bush’s call to deal with Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction was studied by Arabs - some said in vain - for signs war could be avoided.

Tony Blair has welcomed an agreement reached by more than 140 countries giving new momentum to efforts to boost global trade.

The British government has welcomed a deal to launch a new round of world trade talks after a "historic" agreement between trade ministers from 142 countries.

Global trade ministers are meeting in the Gulf state of Qatar for the latest World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference.

The city of Doha in the Gulf state of Qatar has become a virtual fortress today as the world’s leading capitalists gather for a meeting of the World Trade Organisation.

Former US president George Bush Senior today issued a warning that the war against terrorism would be a long-drawn-out conflict.

US President George Bush today vowed to ‘‘disrupt and destroy’’ the networks of global terrorism as the Foreign Office claimed the Taliban’s grip on power in Afghanistan was starting to slip.