Four Iraqi soldiers have been accused of raping a 50-year-old Sunni woman and the attempted rape of her two daughters. It is the second allegation of sexual assault levelled against Iraqi forces this week.

World powers today worked on a response to Tehran’s defiance of a UN Security Council ultimatum on mothballing its uranium enrichment programme.

US military officials are worried about the increasing use of chemical bombs in Iraq.Insurgents yesterday exploded a truck carrying chlorine gas canisters – the second such “dirty” chemical attack in two days