Afghan officials say flash floods have killed at least 35 people in four eastern provinces, while an estimated 50 people are still missing.

Italy today denied that its secret services bribed the Taliban to stop them killing its soldiers patrolling in Afghanistan.

Ten French soldiers have been killed fighting Taliban forces outside Kabul.

Nato and Afghan army troops came under fire east of Kabul and called in airstrikes, killing at least one suspected insurgent, an official said today.

An Afghan court has sentenced a man to death today for the 2001 killing of three foreign journalists and an Afghan colleague who were pulled from their cars, robbed and shot as they rushed to cover the collapse of the Taliban.