News in English

US President George W. Bush today said only a small number of US soldiers deployed in Iraq took part in abusing prisoners, as pressure increased on Washington due to the scandal.

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale jolted southern Iran overnight, destroying four schools and damaging others, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Private Lynndie England, shown in photographs smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners, was charged yesterday by the US military.

President George W. Bush apologised for the first time overnight for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops and faulted Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for not keeping him in the loop on problems at US-run prisons in Iraq.

A statement attributed to Osama bin Laden today offered rewards in gold for the killing of top US and UN officials in Iraq.

The scandal over US torture of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison deepened yesterday, with the appearance of possibly hundreds more shocking photos detailing abuses.

Pakistani intelligence agents have uncovered a plot by terrorists to hijack and possibly blow up a United Arab Emirates-bound plane.

President George W. Bush has acknowledged US troops made mistakes, but stopped short of offering an apology for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

The Pentagon has revealed a US soldier and a CIA interrogator killed prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that at least 20 other deaths or assaults are under investigation.

The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax Films division from distributing Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which criticises President George W Bush's handling of September 11 and connects the Bush family with that of Osama bin Laden.