Obama considering military strikes after air plot

A fresh list of targets has already been drawn up as the Administration moves from reassurance to thinly-veiled threats

Yemen the front line in conflict for US

The fragile Government is being given the quiet but rapidly increasing support of US trainers, intelligence and hardware

Air passenger with chemicals held last month

Somalia prevented an attack a month before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to set off explosives on a flight to Detroit

Iran regime supporters hold rallies of their own

As opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi’s nephew is buried quietly, Iran’s Government stage manages rallies to bolster support

Half of new armoured vehicles out of service

The Army’s Mastiff and Ridgeback armoured patrol vehicles appear to be unreliable, according to figures obtained by Lib Dems

Stamp of approval for Negro Leagues Baseball

The sporting heroes are among some of America’s most famous faces to be honoured with commemorative postage stamps next year

Slumdog child star’s slum house demolished

Mumbai officials have pulled down the shanty home of Rubina Ali Qureshi, who starred in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire

Christmas miracle as baby and mother revived

Tracy Hermanstorfer suffered cardiac arrest in labour and had no heartbeat for four minutes, but her new son was delivered

Arrests will encourage Iran protest supporters

Should the opposition leaders have been arrested, followers would see the regime’s action only as a sign of desperation

British missionary released in Gambia

Fiona Fulton is freed after serving a year's hard labour for criticising the Government but her husband remains in jail

IN DEPTH: taken captive when trying to help

Shrouded in secrecy, British and US officials worked behind the scenes to free the IT expert from Lincoln

Domain name extension 'could boost cyber-crime'

Introduction of internet addresses using non-Roman scripts may lead to deluge of phishing and e-mail scams, experts warn

TIMELINE: Iraq kidnappings

Four guards and an IT consultant were seized in May 2007. Three are dead, one presumed dead and the fifth is free

US agents failed to act on bomber internet chatter

Al-Qaeda members referred to possible attack by 'the Nigerian' in run up to failed bombing of aircraft over Detroit

Sting in tail of 'best job in the world'

Ben Southall stung by potentially lethal Irukandji jellyfish near end of job promoting Great Barrier Reef tourist island

Abdulmutallab's father 'warned CIA'

Airline bomb plot suspect's father met a CIA agent to discuss his son's extremist views but report was not circulated

Britain hauls in ambassador after execution

Diplomatic row between London and Beijing after China rebuffs last minute clemency pleas over execution of Akmal Shaikh

UK thought Reagan would be a lazy president

Archive papers reveal British diplomats’ verdict on Republican candidate in the early days of US election campaign

Al-Qaeda ‘groomed bomber in London’

Security sources concerned British Universities, especially in London, are hotbed of Islamist radicalisation

Reality of civilian casualties and Nato's role

President Karzai may point fingers but deaths linked to Nato forces drop from 38 per cent last year to 22 per cent this year