News in English

Jailed Indonesian militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has rejected accusations of terrorism, while expressing admiration for al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, according to the Saudi weekly Al-Majallah.

The frank assessment by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw came as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network was linked to the wave of suicide bombings in southern Iraq and Saudi Arabia that killed more than 70 people

Four people, including two security officers, were killed and 148 injured when a car bomb devastated a building of the Saudi security services in Riyadh overnight, the interior ministry said.

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu walked to freedom late yesterday after serving an 18-year prison term for revealing secrets that exposed Israel as a nuclear power.

An Algerian Islamic cleric was deported from France yesterday after announcing that wife-beating was authorised by the Koran.

Iraqi leaders yesterday named a tribunal of judges and prosecutors to try Saddam Hussein, putting a long-time opponent of the ousted dictator at the forefront of the case against him.

Tony Blair's European Union U-turn is the biggest gamble of his career.

The bloody reality of abortion was brought into British living rooms last night in a world TV first that has inflamed emotions and revived old divisions.

The cease-fire followed peace talks in Chad between Sudanese government officials and rebels seeking a permanent solution. The Darfur fighting is unrelated to a 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, which has claimed more than 2 million lives, mainly through famine.

In the hours ahead of his release, Mordechai Vanunu ate his last prison breakfast Wednesday and took a walk around the grounds of the lockup where he was held for 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets.