Russian police wrestled to the ground a woman in a hijab brandishing the severed head of a child outside a Moscow metro station and charged her with murder, in an incident that stirred fears of an Islamist terrorist attack.

A 36-year-old Belfast woman has died in a road accident while on holidays in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan.

The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, an ally in George W Bush’s so-called "war on terrorism", is blocking humanitarian supplies into Afghanistan, according to aid agencies working in the area.

The Taliban was tonight preparing to free British journalist Yvonne Ridley as Prime Minister Tony Blair said everything was now in place for a military strike.