But Democrats demanded details of what role the two men played. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Bush "can no longer be trusted to keep America safe" after putting the interests of his party ahead of security. Analysts say presidents are within their legal rights to declassify papers that serve their purposes, even as they bemoan leaks. "But it's embarrassing when they're caught at it," said political analyst Stephen Hess. "This time, we caught them leaking from the top." Still, Hess said it remains to be seen whether this will further damage Bush, who's already suffering from record-low approval ratings.

Reports that military officers will meet government officials on Monday to discuss possible US-led military action against Iran have been denied. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said there was no truth whatsoever in the claims. Insiders claim that US plans for a possible strike are thought to be at an advanced stage.  But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US was "committed" to dealing with Iran diplomatically. She told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme: "We believe that diplomacy has a chance to work but we are going to work with whomever we can, in whatever form we can, diplomatically, to try and bring the Iranians around.  "Iran is not Iraq. I know that's what's on people's minds. The circumstances are different."  She added: "However, the president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table." UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was also interviewed on the programme, said: "We are working very hard to resolve this by diplomatic means." He conceded UN Security Council member Russia was "anxious" about Iran. "They are worried about the possibility of the Iranians stirring up trouble for them, but they also share our high suspicions that Iran may be using its civil nuclear capability to develop a nuclear weapon and they do not want that," he said. Many defence analysts expected that British military officials would have a wide range of contingency plans available including one for a possible US air strike on Iran. "There is no sense that such a strike is imminent, however there is well sourced and persistent speculation that American covert activities aimed at Iran are already underway," he said.

Heated Debate and Insults in Italy

Italy's PM Silvio Berlusconi and rival Romano Prodi have gone head-to-head in the second and final televised debate ahead of Sunday's elections.  The debate was dominated by the economy as Mr Berlusconi sought to claw back ground he has lost. More than 15m people watched the first debate two weeks ago, which centre-left Mr Prodi was deemed to have won. This debate was a far more combative exchange, which eventually spilled over into open confrontation. The election campaign has been acrimonious throughout. At every turn there have been insults, and at times it has been a pretty ugly spectacle. Monday's debate began with a question over whether the campaign could have been held in a better spirit. "You're right, we should try to be more friendly," said Mr Prodi.

'Useful idiot': But within 20 minutes the debate had descended into open confrontation. "The prime minister clings today in the way a drunkard clings to lamp-posts - " Mr Prodi said, "not for illumination, but to keep him standing up." Mr Berlusconi replied: "I will not accept that. Have a little respect for the prime minister. "Let me return Prodi's remark about the drunk by saying that Prodi is like a useful idiot - he lends his cheery parish priest face to the left, which is 70% made up of former communists."

Photo: Jill Carroll appeared happy on arrival at the Ramstein base.

The US journalist released after being held hostage in Iraq for three months has distanced herself from comments published straight after her release. Jill Carroll said she had been forced to make a "propaganda video" on her last night in captivity. Speaking at a US base in Germany, Ms Carroll also said she did not speak freely in an Iraqi TV interview, which she was told would never be broadcast. She called her captors "criminals, at best" saying she was often threatened. In a statement read to the media by the editor of the Christian Science Monitor, the US newspaper she reported for before her capture, Ms Carroll said she no longer stood by remarks she made on her release. "During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. "They told me I would be released if I co-operated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. So I agreed."

'Fear of retribution': Ms Carroll was kidnapped and her translator was killed in west Baghdad on 7 January. She was freed on 30 March and was dropped off at the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party. In her statement on Saturday she accused the group of breaking an agreement not to broadcast an interview recorded after her release. "The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word," she said. "At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times." In the interview, Ms Carroll, 28, had said her captors treated her "very well" and did not hit her. In Germany, however, the freelance reporter was much more direct. "The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best," the statement read. "They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends - and all those around the world, who have prayed so fervently for my release - through a horrific experience. "I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this."
 

Top US Republican 'to step down'

Former top Republican Tom DeLay has said he will not be seeking re-election to the House of Representatives in November, according to US news reports. Mr DeLay, who is expected to announce his plans on Tuesday, is said to be likely to resign his seat and leave Congress by the end of May or mid-June. The 58-year-old is accused of laundering corporate contributions for use in Republican campaigns in Texas. He has strongly denied the charges in a case which has yet to go to trial. News of Mr DeLay's decision came late in the evening. It has not been formally confirmed but several of the former Republican leader's closest allies have said they have spoken to Mr DeLay and he has told them he is going.

'Innocent of wrongdoing': Mr DeLay has been destroyed by corruption allegations against him and admitted corruption by his senior staff. Just days ago his former deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to corruption, saying he ran a criminal enterprise out of Mr DeLay's office. Mr DeLay was facing a tough re-election fight in November and he has apparently concluded that he would not win. The decision throws the spotlight on Republican Party corruption in a manner which will certainly do the party no good. The White House is not directly involved, though late last year President Bush said he believed Mr DeLay was innocent of any wrongdoing. Mr Bush may now regret his decision to be so supportive. -By J. Web

France braces for mass protests

Fresh mass protests and nationwide strikes are to be held across France amid continuing opposition to a controversial new labour law. Unions and student groups are hoping to repeat last week's rallies when more than a million people marched across the country against the CPE contracts. However, there are hints that protest leaders may be willing to enter talks with the government on the issue. The law making it easy to hire and fire young people came into force on Sunday.

Security raised: The street marches are expected to disrupt road and rail traffic and cause flight delays. Thousands of riots police are being deployed to prevent a repeat of the clashes and vandalism that marred several previous demonstrations, particularly in the capital, Paris. There are, however, some signs that protesters may be willing to negotiate with the government. Bruno Julliard, head of student union Unef, said he would accept an invitation to talks from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party to find a compromise on the issue. "We will answer yes to the invitation [to talks] as long as there is a guarantee that no CPE contract will be signed in the coming days," Mr Julliard told France Inter radio: But he added: "We are on the edge of victory."

His words were echoed by Jacques Voisin of the CFTC union. "If these discussions are aimed at implementing measures that respond to the concerns of young people and the whole question of how they can get into the work-force, then why not," Mr Voisin was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. French newspapers say Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has taken over from his arch-rival, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, in the search for a solution to avert further protests.

Comatose Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to undergo head surgery on Tuesday, hospital officials in Jerusalem say. They said the operation was aimed at restoring part of his skull, removed during previous surgery after he suffered a massive stroke on 4 January. The operation was to be conducted in the afternoon, the Hadassah hospital said in a statement. Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assumed Mr Sharon's powers in January.

Nursing home decision: This will be Mr Sharon's eighth bout of surgery following his brain haemorrhage in January. The 78-year-old has since been in what doctors describe as a "critical but stable condition". Hospital officials have recently said a decision would be made soon on whether to move Mr Sharon to a nursing home for long-term comatose patients requiring constant medical care. A political party founded by Mr Sharon before his stroke, Kadima, won Israeli general elections last week. Mr Olmert - who replaced Mr Sharon as Kadima's chief - is expected to assume the title of prime minister in the coming weeks.

US police are searching for a woman who allegedly kept two British girls as slaves for 13 years.  Mercedes Farquharson, 60, made Jasmine and Holly Lloyd work 20 hours a day at her North Carolina home until they were freed in December, police said. She is wanted on three counts of involuntary servitude, police in Monroe, North Carolina, say. She had taken over care of the girls in Southall, west London, in the 1990s, taking them to Spain and then the US. Jasmine and Holly, now 22 and 18 respectively, said they were not allowed to go to school or have any friends and had to look after a menagerie that included more than a dozen dogs and around 300 chickens. Farquharson, who took in the girls when their mother was having marriage problems, is now on the run. Investigators believe she may have fled to Spain. She is also wanted on two counts of felony child abuse over the suspected beating of her adopted daughter. The Lloyd sisters and Farquharson's 15-year-old adopted daughter were taken from the home in Monroe, North Carolina, by police after a neighbour reported suspicious circumstances. Detective John Young, of Union County Sheriff's Office, said: "The house was nasty. It was like the inside of a barn. "This woman was working these girls basically 20 hours a day and wouldn't give them proper nourishment or any kind of schooling." 'Regular beatings': Holly told local TV channel WCNC the experience was "very draining". She said Farquharson would beat the three girls, using "canes, bamboo sticks and dog leashes". She said all the girls would get into trouble for something each day and at least two would be beaten. "We had to clean until we could eat off the floor or until you could see your face in the counter but it was gruelling," she said. The Lloyd sisters said they were put to work aged 12 and seven. After moving from the UK, they lived with Farquharson in Spain for around six years before moving to Monroe some five years ago. When social services workers made a scheduled visit in 2003, the girls said they were ordered to clean the home and tell officials they loved Farquharson. But late last year investigators returned and took the 15-year-old into care. The Lloyd sisters are now being cared for at the home of a social services employee's family. Jasmine Lloyd also spoke to the WCNC channel about her former life. "When I was there, I never thought it was weird or bizarre," she said. "Now that I'm out I realise she's the weird one, not the rest of the world."

The Apache Longbow was lost near Yussifiya, south of Baghdad, at 1730 local time (1330 GMT) on Saturday. An insurgent group said it carried out the attack, in an unverified statement on the internet. The latest deaths come as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Iraq for talks with political leaders. The US military said in a statement: "The two pilots are presumed dead, but recovery efforts continue. As reported earlier the aircraft was conducting a combat air patrol."