Kurds likely to be Iraq election kingmakers after strong turnout

Kurdish alliance set to play prominent role in coalition government despite Gorran group breaking away

A strong turnout from Iraq's Kurds in national elections on Sunday has enhanced their status of kingmakers in forming the central government, with preliminary voting results expected within 24 hours.

The electoral commission said today that votes had now all been counted, although the official results will not be declared until the end of March.

The ballot appears to have narrowly favoured the ...

Four men and three women suspected of planning to kill Lars Vilks, who has had al-Qaida bounty on his head since 2007

Irish police today arrested seven suspects over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who drew the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

The target of the alleged assassination was Lars Vilks, who had a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty put on his head by al-Qaida in 2007, with a 50% bonus if Vilks was "slaughtered like a lamb" by having his throat cut. Another $50,000 was said to...

In talks with Binyamin Netanyahu, US vice-president stresses need to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, promised the Israeli government today that it had the strong support of Washington and said the US was committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"There is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," Biden said, after meeting the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem. Their talks appeared to...

Officials claim Dulmatin, an explosives expert, was one of three suspects shot dead by anti-terror officers near Jakarta

One of the men suspected of masterminding the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings has been killed in a shootout with police, according to reports.

Officials said Dulmatin, an explosives expert thought to have been a key member of the team that killed 202 people, was believed to have been shot dead.

Anti-terror police hunting a mastermind of Indonesia's worst terror attack confirmed t...

? Host nation has one-in-five rate of HIV/Aids among adults
? Plea for an extra billion condoms before football fans descend

Britain is to give 42m condoms to South Africa in response to a request for an extra billion as part of an HIV prevention drive before the World Cup, the government will announce today.

The request for British help in stockpiling sufficient condoms for the expected influx of thousands of football supporters in three months' time was made during President Jacob Zuma's recen...

? 'Business raided and asylum refused'
? Berlusconi's friendship with Putin blamed

For Walter Litvinenko, it was a difficult but necessary step. After his son Alexander was murdered in London in 2006 in the most scandalous political killing since the cold war, Walter fled Russia for sanctuary in western Europe. He chose Italy. It offered a new, anonymous, KGB-free life.

But two years after arriving in the sleepy seaside town of Senigallia on the Adriatic coast, Litvinenko says his family is bein...

Brave diver puts hand outside protective cage and into great white's mouth off the Mexican coast

Anonymous tipoff leads police to body of Greek Cypriot hardliner, stolen from cemetery last year

The missing corpse of the former Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos has been found, three months after it was taken from his grave in a raid that horrified the divided island.

Cypriot police said today tests had confirmed the body was that of Papadopoulos after it was found yesterday in a Nicosia cemetery after an anonymous tipoff. "We have received the DNA test results, and the body is that of t...

US star arrives at Rikers Island jail in New York to serve sentence for possessing loaded gun on tour bus

The US rapper Lil Wayne began a one-year jail sentence today after pleading guilty to possession of a gun.

Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was arrested in July 2007 when a loaded .40-calibre semi-automatic gun was found on his tour bus.

He admitted the offence in October but his sentencing, scheduled for February, was postponed while he underwent surgery on his bejewelled teeth....

? Driver called officers on mobile phone as car reached speeds of 94mph
? Toyota sends specialist to investigate the incident

Toyota's safety crisis deepened further last night when police officers in California were called to stop a runaway Prius that was accelerating out of control on a busy highway.

The driver, 61 year-old James Sikes, called Highway Patrol officers on his mobile phone after the 2008 Prius suddenly began to accelerate of its own accord while he was driving down the Interstate...

News Corporation chief says region should cut regulation and end censorship, and promotes idea of paying for content

Read the full text of Rupert Murdoch's speech (pdf)

Rupert Murdoch has called on Gulf states to open up their markets to global competition from companies such as his own News Corporation by cutting regulation and ending censorship.

In a keynote speech expounding the value of media content for its ability to contribute to global economic growth at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Media Sum...

Officials concerned space flight might affect fertility of first Chinese women to go into orbit

They are, of course, in peak physical condition, with the flying skills required of any air force ace. But China's first female astronauts have faced an extra challenge: they had to be mothers to qualify for the country's prestigious space programme.

Two women and five men have been selected as the next generation to go into space, a Hong Kong newspaper reported today, citing an unnamed military sour...

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Inquest into death of Corporal Sarah Bryant heard that troops were under-prepared and in inadequate vehicles

The inquest was expected to be all about Corporal Sarah Bryant, the first female British soldier killed in Afghanistan. In the end, the focus was on the equipment ? or lack of it ? that Bryant and the three men she died alongside had access to as they mentored Afghan police officers.

During five days of evidence, soldier after soldier came forward to express the concerns they had felt wh...

So British men have 32 more minutes of leisure time a day than women do ? I'd better ask the dog what to do with it

A survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that British men have, on average, more leisure time in their day than women ? 32 minutes more, to be precise. This is a lot compared with Germany, where men get just 22 minutes extra, but still not really enough to be of much use. If you have to drive to your leisure activity and back, for ex...

Nigeria urged to probe death of hundreds
International officials called on Nigeria on Tuesday to investigate the deaths of hundreds of unarmed civilians over the weekend in the latest incident of sectarian violence in the region.
9 Mar 2010 at 8:55am

U.S. leads Israeli, Palestinian peace talks
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden began leading indirect peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians on the same day Israel announced new construction in east Jerusalem.
9 Mar 2010 at 10:57am

3 Bali bombing suspects killed by police
Indonesian anti-terror police hunting a mastermind of the country's worst terrorist attack say they've killed three suspects in the capital city of Jakarta.
9 Mar 2010 at 11:07am

China car sales soar
China's passenger car sales in February climbed 55 per cent from a year earlier, despite a long national holiday, on strong demand for smaller cars and sport utility vehicles, an industry group reportes.
9 Mar 2010 at 8:07am

NAFTA pullout bill fails to scare Ottawa
Fresh off a recent skirmish over "Buy American," some Canadian cabinet ministers are expressing confidence that a new protectionist push from some U.S. politicians won't succeed.
9 Mar 2010 at 10:41am

Alleged plot to kill Mohammed cartoonist foiled
Police in Ireland have arrested seven people over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
9 Mar 2010 at 9:06am

Palin ridiculed for Canadian health care use
Sarah Palin's weekend admission that her family once travelled to Canada to receive treatment under the public health-care system she's so often demonized prompted skepticism and ridicule Monday among her critics in the U.S.
8 Mar 2010 at 9:02pm

Ohio campus shooting leaves 2 dead
Two people are dead and one other is injured following a shooting on the Ohio State University campus, the nation's largest, authorities say.
9 Mar 2010 at 10:58am

Police help halt runaway Prius
A California Highway Patrol officer helped bring a runaway Toyota Prius travelling 151 kilometres an hour to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway.
9 Mar 2010 at 7:07am

Centuries-old shipwrecks discovered in Baltic
A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany, Swedish experts say.
9 Mar 2010 at 7:40am

Stolen remains of former Cyprus president found
Three months after it was stolen, the corpse of Cyprus's former president has been found reburied in another grave. The country's justice minister says the remains of Tassos Papadopoulos had been held for ransom.
9 Mar 2010 at 10:39am

Same-sex weddings begin in U.S. capital
About 150 same-sex couples in Washington, D.C., who applied for marriage licences will be able to pick them up on Tuesday, the first day same-sex couples can tie the knot in the U.S. capital.
9 Mar 2010 at 6:21am

Another U.S. missionary released in Haiti
One of two Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released and flew to Miami on Monday, but the U.S. group's leader remained in custody.
8 Mar 2010 at 10:04pm

B.C. man gets 20 more years in U.S. prison
A Canadian-born former U.S. Army Ranger imprisoned for leading a heavily armed bank heist in Tacoma, Wash., four years ago has had 20 years added to his sentence for stabbing a former crony and trying to have a prosecutor murdered.
8 Mar 2010 at 10:04pm

Montreal sailor feared missing in Chilean quake
The family of a Montreal woman who set sail for Chile in January say they are concerned she might have gone missing in last month's earthquake or the subsequent tsunami.
8 Mar 2010 at 2:34pm