News in English

The head of Iraq's war-crimes tribunal said the US has pledged to hand over Saddam Hussein together with over 100 other suspects to Iraqi authorities before July 1, when Iraq assumes sovereignty from its US-led occupiers.

A video posted today on an Islamic militant website showed a group affiliated with al-Qaeda beheading an American civilian in Iraq. The death was revenge for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers.

France has detained a Muslim preacher suspected of giving extremist sermons for refusing to heed a house arrest order, a judicial official said today.

The curtain fell today on India's five-round election in which 370 million people voted. The ruling Hindu nationalists lost seats and are struggling to form a stable government.

Pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US troops and vengeful inscriptions were found on desecrated graves of British soldiers of World War I in Gaza City, the cemetery curator said today.

Pro-Russian Chechnya President Akhmad Kadyrov, whose assassination on Sunday appeared to bear the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda operation.

The Kremlin-backed president of Russia's warring Chechnya region and a top Russian general were killed after an explosion at a sports stadium in the Chechen capital where they were attending Victory Day observances.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised today for British soldiers' mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and pledged to punish those responsible.

The Palestinians reacted angrily yesterday after US President George W. Bush threw into doubt a 2005 target date for their promised state.

Militiamen loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr clashed with British troops overnight as their battle with the US-led coalition spread to southern Iraq.