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The U.S. military says "several thousand" foreign fighters are in Iraq, a number that has remained fairly constant in recent weeks as those killed or captured are replaced by terrorists from across the border. The invaders, who began entering Iraq in significant numbers in the summer, have emerged as a major stumbling block to turning over political power to an interim Iraqi authority on June 30. Once inside the country, they form cells and, in some cases, team up with local insurgents, U.S. officials said. The foreigners are the ones kidnapping Westerners and committing suicide attacks that kill hundreds. Fallujah,...

A police officer has been killed and up to eight people injured as officers investigating the Madrid train bombings tried to arrest three suspects, it has been reported. National radio said they had been killed in an explosion as police surrounded an apartment block. Large numbers of police were sent to the suburb of Leganes, south of the Spanish capital, as part of the hunt for suspects following the March 11 train attacks. Officers evacuated 40 homes and asked other residents to remain indoors, as a police helicopter circled overhead and scanned the area. An eyewitness, who heard gunfire, said...

Jubilant crowds dragged the burnt and mutilated bodies of four Americans through the streets of Fallujah yesterday amid some of the most horrific scenes witnessed since the invasion of Iraq. The four were driving along the main road when they were caught in a vicious crossfire from Iraqis wearing headscarves. The spot is a favourite site for attacks in the pro-Saddam Hussein town. Yesterday, the corpses were dismembered before parts were hung from a green iron bridge over the Euphrates river, witnesses said. Other remains were hung from an electricity pole. People chanted: "We sacrifice our blood and souls for...

Six British cavers rescued in Mexico are to face another round of questioning over reports they were looking for radioactive materials on a potholing expedition. But the allegations have been strongly denied by the Ministry of Defence which insist the men, including military personnel, were on a training exercise. The six men, along with seven others which made up the team, have been detained by Mexican authorities over possible visa breaches. Police will hand over the cavers' case to federal prosecutors, who will decide whether to take them to a prison, a holding centre, or leave them in a migration...

Spain would be sending out a "terrible message" if it let terrorists influence its policies, the White House said yesterday as President George W Bush urged his European allies not to abandon the Iraqi people. The blunt comments were softened by hints that Washington might propose a fresh United Nations mandate on Iraq, answering a major demand of the new Spanish leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

British public support for the war in Iraq has dropped to 43%, from 61% at the end of the war in May, according to a poll. The Pew Global Attitudes Project survey found, however, that a slight majority of Britons, 51%, viewed Prime Minister Tony Blair favourably. He got higher ratings in the United States (75%) and lower ones in France, Germany and Russia (35, 33 and 36%, respectively). But 41% of Britons thought Mr Blair had lied about weapons of mass destruction. President George Bush got 39% approval among Britons, 15% among the French and 14% among Germans. In...

Young Muslims in the Netherlands are being recruited for armed terrorism missions against Western targets, the Dutch secret service warned today. In a note to parliament, the agency – known by its Dutch acronym AIVD - repeated its November 2002 warning that recruits are active in the Netherlands. “It’s known that some stayed in a training camp. Others are involved in supporting Islamic terrorism-related activities like arranging money and passports,” the agency said. “Still others are in turn trying to win over other potential recruits.” Since the terror attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, 17 terrorism suspects...

STUDIO chiefs in Hollywood have pledged to black-ban Mel Gibson for his film The Passion of The Christ, which earned more than $637,000 when it opened in Australia on Wednesday. The chairmen of two Hollywood studios said they would avoid working with Gibson because of the film, which he directed and financed, and his comments surrounding its release, the New York Times reported yesterday. One of the studio chairmen, who asked for anonymity, told the newspaper: "It doesn't matter what I say. It'll matter what I do. I will do something. I won't hire him. I won't support anything he's...

Coming soon to a synagogue near you: "The Passion: The Counteroffensive." Jewish groups across the city are gearing up for the premiere of Mel Gibson's movie with sermons, forums and press conferences on the death of Christ. Their aim is to fight any suggestion that Jews - two millennia ago and today - are responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Only a handful of Jewish activists have seen the movie, which chronicles the last 12 hours of Christ's life, but they've raised the alarm about its message. They believe Gibson faults the Jewish high priest Caiaphas rather than the Roman tyrant Pontius...

More than 100 Iranian politicians have accused Iran's supreme leader of ignoring freedom and basic rights - an almost unprecedented move. The legislators, who include deputy speaker Mohammad Reza Khatami, have sent an angry letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In it they criticise his support for the disqualification of about 2,400 candidates in the parliamentary elections, it has been reported. Criticism of Khamenei - who is regarded by his supporters as being incapable of error and answerable only to God - is very rare within Iran. "You now you lead a system in which legitimate freedoms and the rights of...

I have no particular wisdom to offer in this column. In fact, I had no intention this week of writing a column at all. I only decided to do it late afternoon yesterday, as the impressions of Thursday morning accumulated in my brain and it seemed to me that some purpose might be served by putting them down on paper. At 8:48 a.m. yesterday, I was with my wife, Corinna, and our seven-week old daughter in the bedroom of our Jerusalem flat when we heard a loud boom. Corinna happened to be looking northward when it happened; through the window,...

<p>WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The Bush administration Monday warned Taiwan not to hold a scheduled referendum that could fuel the island's independence movement.</p> <p>The New York Times said the warning inserts the United States squarely into growing tension between China and Taiwan.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA report concludes that ordinary Iraqis increasingly are siding with the insurgency amid doubts about the U.S. ability to stamp it out, officials said on Wednesday, while the U.S. administrator in Iraq said it was hard to figure out where the Iraqi public stands. The CIA's classified field assessment concluded that many Iraqis are losing faith in American efforts in Iraq amid the U.S. failure to crush an increasingly bold resistance, said U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the many ways the Academy tries to bring academics and application together is the Model United Nations (MUN) program. Following in the spirit in which the UN was founded, the MUN brings delegations from colleges and universities together in intercollegiate simulations that stress the need for constructive, open dialogue among all participants as the key to addressing the complex problems facing the international community. Through an emphasis on international consensus, team members gain an appreciation for the difficulty of balancing national interests with the need for multilateral solutions. The West Point Model United Nations team earned First Place...

DALLAS _ School officials are investigating reports that a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy engaged in oral sex during a science class at Robert T. Hill Middle School. The activity allegedly took place Tuesday in the back of a classroom while the teacher was away at a parent-teacher conference, leaving an adult security monitor in charge, Dallas school district spokesman Donald Claxton said Friday. At least four students said they witnessed the activity and reported it Wednesday when their teacher returned, Claxton said. School officials placed the security monitor, whose name was not released, on paid administrative leave Thursday....

An appeals court decided yesterday to allow a Florida man to have the feeding tube removed from his wife who has been in a vegetative state since 1990. The husband says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially. The woman’s parents say their daughter has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated. (AP) Do you agree or disagree with the court’s decision to allow the feeding tube to be removed?

As a Greek American, I would like to take this time to apologize to America for the woman who calls herself Arianna Huffington. There are not that many of us Greeks in the United States. Yes we are a true minority, yet we refuse to act like one. Most of us have had humble beginnings and take pride in our accomplishments through hard work and tenacity. Most non-Greeks know little of us. One may think that Greeks exclusively work at diners and…well…just diners. Actually many of us are doctors, engineers, scientists, soldiers, teachers, auto-mechanics, plumbers, electricians, housewives, politicians and stockbrokers....

PFORZHEIM (Germany) - An employee attacked co-workers with a samurai sword yesterday in a mail-order warehouse, killing one woman and seriously injuring three others before turning the blade on himself, police said.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian militants called off a tattered two-month-old truce on Thursday after an Israeli helicopter killed a senior Hamas political leader with a volley of missiles. Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters marched in protest through the streets of Gaza, vowing revenge. According to aides, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas had ordered a major crackdown and drew up lists of militants to be arrested, but scrapped the plans after the assassination.

Two Turkish F-16 jets yesterday harassed a US C-130 transport aircraft flying some 30 miles southeast of Rhodes, Greek military officials said yesterday. The jets were chased off by Greek aircraft, the same officials said, adding that the US pilot told control tower staff the Turkish jets had come very close to his aircraft.