BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurds on Wednesday told of entire families killed in chemical weapons attacks against their villages in the 1980s, saying survivors plunged their faces into milk to end the pain from the blinding gas or fled into the hills on mules as military helicopters fired on them.

Two Western journalists kidnapped in Gaza earlier this month were shown in footage released yesterday by a previously unknown group calling themselves the Holy Jihad Brigades.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States said on Wednesday that Iran’s request for talks fell short of the UN Security Council’s demand for it to halt its nuclear programme.