Family slain amid election terror in Iraq

THE slaughter of the al-Kaabi family last week horrified Iraqis who had prayed that the parliamentary elections next Sunday would be free from political violence.

Huge earthquake rips through Chile

A HUGE earthquake that struck Chile early yesterday sent tsunamis racing across the Pacific, triggering warnings to evacuate coastal areas in countries spanning a quarter of the globe.

Barack Obama ?destroys first year in office?

WHEN President Barack Obama took office last year he was compared to Superman, even joking at a dinner that he had been ?born on Krypton and sent here ... to save the planet Earth?. Last January he appeared on the cover of Spider-Man.

French teenagers grab free love at le Skins orgy

WHO could have imagined that the French, with their reputation for sophisticated naughtiness, would complain about being led astray by the boring old British?

Pink-shorts senator has presidential bulge

HE was supposed to be the he-man of the US Senate, a truck-driving triathlon-completing former male model who sends female colleagues into a swoon. But America?s newest senator showed a more feminine side this weekend with the revelation that he wore pink leather shorts on his first date with his future wife.

World news in brief

Killer whales perform again

Desperate mother killed drug addict son

As darkness falls in Lavender Hill, it is time for the lawabiding to hide indoors.

Robert Mugabe annexes white-owned firms

ZIMBABWE?S president, Robert Mugabe, used his lavish 86th birthday celebrations in Bulawayo yesterday to announce a new crackdown on white-owned businesses.

Soldier killed in Afghanistan blast named as Sergeant Paul Fox

Tributes have been paid to a British soldier killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan yesterday.

Chile earthquake: Eye witness accounts

Marco Vidal, a program director for Grand Circle Travel travelling with a group of 34 Americans, was on the 19th floor of the Crown Plaza Santiago hotel when the quake struck.

The science behind the Chile earthquake

The catastrophic earthquake which hit Chile today was caused by the Pacific ocean floor gradually sliding under the continent of South America.

UK troops in Afghanistan 'for five years'

British troops will remain in Afghanistan for the next five years, according to the head of the Army.