Luke Harding

European observers this morning condemned Russia's presidential election, won overwhelmingly by Dmitry Medvedev, as "not fair" and a denial of the "democratic potential" of the country's voters.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany yesterday announced he was bowing out of public life and said he would not serve in a "grand coalition" under Angela Merkel, despite earlier speculation he might stay on as foreign minister.

Luke Harding reports from Port Blair on the remote Andaman Islands

Lying amid the debris strewn near Al-Karkh police station was the photo of a young man in a blue T-shirt. The passport snap had been part of his application to join Iraq's police force.

Family's fury at mystery death

They arrived in darkness, then sat until dawn in the desert. The Taliban's elite foreign fighters were supposed to fight until the death. But early yesterday morning they packed into five open trucks and three pick-ups and headed east out of Kundoz in a swirl of choking dust.