Thousands of Americans including religious leaders, politicians and movie stars have marched through Washington calling for the US to step in and end “genocide” in Darfur.

The British Army faces claims that soldiers assaulted and tortured an Australian citizen mistaken for a Saddam loyalist.

CHARLES CLARKE knew that foreign prisoners convicted for serious crime had been released without being considered for deportation more than three weeks before he told the Prime Minister, it emerged last night.

A US journalist sentenced to two years imprisonment for torturing Afghans in a private Kabul jail has been released two months before the end of his sentence.

A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

On Saturday, the Home Office said more than 200 police and immigration officers were taking part in raids across the UK, to track down 63 high-risk foreign offenders, following initial raids overnight on Friday night.

It didn’t take long for the idea of forcing Internet providers to retain records of their users’ activities to gain traction in the U.S. Congress.

The FBI issued thousands of subpoenas to banks, phone companies and Internet providers last year, aggressively using a power enhanced under the Patriot Act to monitor the activities of U.S. citizens, Justice Department data released late Friday showed.

A brouhaha has erupted over the criticism that various retired generals - eight at last count - have directed at Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Iraq war hawks have reacted with fury at the criticism, and many have impugned the judgment and the motives of Mr. Rumsfeld’s tormentors.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched Saturday through lower Manhattan to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just hours after this month’s death toll reached 70.

Technology behind the Pentagon’s controversial data-mining project has been acquired by NSA, and is probably in use.

Specter said he won’t seek an immediate vote on his plan to terminate funding for the domestic surveillance program, but he wants to wake up the White House and stop the president from “walking all over Congress.”

The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court’s approval, the Justice Department said Friday.

The US administration branded Iran public enemy number one, calling it one of the world’s most active sponsors of terrorism, as the UN nuclear inspectors revealed that Tehran has successfully enriched uranium and is racing ahead with its nuclear programme.