News in English

At least 26 African migrants have died trying to reach Italy in an overcrowded boat, Italian police have said.

The US is tightening security in the face of a steady stream of intelligence indicating al-Qaeda may seek to mount an attack aimed at disrupting elections, the White House and Homeland Security officials said today.

The ultra-tidy nation Singapore is lifting its famous ban on chewing gum after 12 years - but only for registered users.

The US military command today denied a report that the top US general in Iraq was present during some interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison and witnessed some of the abuse of Iraqi inmates.

Pakistan was readmitted to the Commonwealth today, five years after its membership was suspended following the October 1999 bloodless coup that brought General Pervez Musharraf to power.

Horrific photographs including savage dogs striking out at cowering Iraqi prisoners and detailed accounts of rapes are among a cache of new evidence of torture by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

A bomb exploded at a Muslim shrine in north-eastern Bangladesh today, killing two people, and wounded 100 more, police and witnesses said.

A female US soldier grins and gives a thumbs-up over a dead Iraqi detainee in the latest shocking photograph from the prisoner abuse scandal.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution yesterday condemning Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, with the US abstaining instead of vetoing the measure.

Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms and a respected consensus builder, was named prime minister today.