Experts fear Pakistan is losing fight against an Islamist militant revolt in its tribal belt As hideouts go, the Shawal Valley in northern Pakistan is a militant's dream. Lonely goat trails wind through a rocky 25-mile corridor that nudges the Afghan border. Its fiercely conservative tribesmen and forbidding high-walled compounds have sheltered Taliban fighters and probably al-Qaida fugitives

The United States, Britain and France have drafted a binding U.N. Security Council resolution requiring Iran to stop critical nuclear activities, but Russia and China are already resisting, officials involved in the negotiations said Tuesday. The emerging standoff signals the beginning of a new confrontation that is expected to take weeks to negotiate, and even then might not result in a clear outcome

After three weeks refusing to accept that he had lost Italy's elections by a narrow margin, Silvio Berlusconi finally bowed to the inevitable yesterday and resigned as prime minister. The move paves the way for a new centre-left coalition government, led by Romano Prodi. Mr Berlusconi was far from gracious in defeat. He is reported to have told a final cabinet meeting: "We will be missed. We will be remembered as the best government of the republic

The former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith won a victory in the US supreme court yesterday in her fight to pursue a share of her late husband's fortune. In a protracted and wildly fluctuating case, the decision addresses an arcane issue of law concerning the jurisdiction of courts involved in the case. Ms Smith claims that her husband, the late billionaire J Howard Marshall II, promised her half of his estimated $1.6bn (£875m) estate

Israel has told the Bush administration that Iran is closer to having a nuclear weapon than was previously thought, but acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he is confident that the West will not allow that to happen. The head of the Mossad intelligence service, Meir Dagan, traveled to Washington last week to meet with counterparts in the CIA and pass on Israel's latest findings on Iran's nuclear progress

A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq has published a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The detailed and lengthy report on work projects in Iraq was drawn up by Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, and was published yesterday

Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets today for May Day marches supporting migrants in the United States, also celebrating what they called a "Day Without Gringos" by shunning U.S. supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and American goods. But measuring the boycott's impact proved difficult: Business already is normally reduced to a fraction of normal volume on Mexico's May Day holiday

Dozens of opposition politicians, civil rights activists and journalists will begin their formal treason trial in Ethiopia today amid calls from human rights groups and the EU for their unconditional release. The 76 defendants, who will appear before the federal high court in Addis Ababa, were arrested following opposition protests last year

Travelling through the big sky country of Montana in the north-western US it is hard to believe that anything could be awry. Piebald ponies graze in their pastures, deer munch grass by the side of the road, and people are few and far between. But a series of billboards are disfiguring the views of the Rockies. In one, a bloodied young man stares arrogantly at the camera. "Actually, doing meth won't make it easier to hook up," reads the slogan

ITALY Court upholds election of Prodi ROME - Italy's highest court upheld on Wednesday the narrow victory of Romano Prodi in last week's elections, apparently ending Silvio Berlusconi's tenure as prime minister after five years — except that the mercurial Berlusconi still would not concede defeat. Instead, there were signs he may campaign to be named president