Afghan assault Marines dismissed

Two Royal Marines have been sentenced for assaulting an Afghan prisoner after he had been detained on suspicion of planting a roadside bomb. Devon-based Sergeant Mark Leader was found guilty by a court martial panel of assault causing actual bodily harm to Mohammad Ekhlas on 19 March 2009. Captain Jody Wheelhouse, from 45 Commando, Arbroath, Scotland, admitted the same offence at an earlier hearing

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Cricketer Malik ‘divorces first wife’ ahead of celebrity wedding

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik is reported to have divorced an Indian woman, ahead of his planned marriage to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza. Imran Qadri, a community elder in the Indian city of Hyderabad, said Malik divorced Ayesha Siddiqui on Wednesday. The Siddiqui family have now withdrawn a police complaint against Malik over his plans to wed Mirza, Mr Qadri said

US ‘order to kill’ Yemen cleric

The US government has authorised operations to capture or kill the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, currently based in Yemen, reports say. The cleric, who is a US citizen, is being targeted for his involvement in planning attacks on the US, officials told journalists

S Lanka war doctor contests poll

A doctor who worked in Sri Lanka’s war zone during last year’s civil war is standing for a pro-government party in parliamentary elections. Dr V Shanmugarajah gave high casualty figures to aid agencies and the media from within the combat zone

Blasts kill at least 28 in Iraq

A series of large explosions has hit the centre of Baghdad killing at least five people, reports say.

Prison stand-off draws to close

A protest by dissident republican prisoners at Maghaberry prison has ended.

To infinity…

Time was when a four-star rating for a hotel was the marker of sheer, unbridled luxury. Then it was five stars, then six and seven

Limb loss rises among UK troops

Rising numbers of UK service personnel are losing limbs as a result of serving in Afghanistan, official figures show. Some 54 lost part or all of a limb in 2009, including 26 who lost more than one, the Ministry of Defence says. That compares with 30 amputees in 2008 and 12 the year before

Attack on Pakistan US consulate

A series of explosions has been reported in the north-west Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Hero dog

An Army search dog who saved British soldiers in Afghanistan from a booby trap "did not know how to sit" a year ago, according to his handler. Chocolat, a Belgian Shepherd, sniffed out enough explosives to make 10 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The find was made in a bazaar in the Nad-e-Ali region of Afghanistan.

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