Governments across Europe, the Middle East and Asia were reluctantly sucked into the Danish cartoon row on Friday as hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets to protest. The dispute spread to London for the first time. Pakistan and Turkey condemned publication of the satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammad, originally published in a Danish newspaper.

The car chase is a staple of life in Los Angeles. Local TV stations frequently drop regular programmes to follow police pursuits live, the grainy images shot from helicopters wheeling over the endless grid of the city’s streets. OJ Simpson helped produce some of the city’s most memorable images, the funereal slo-mo car chase following the murder of his wife.

The Bush administration has said it is planning to spend -billion on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars this year, bringing their total cost so far to -billion. The spending request, which will soon be presented to Congress, marks a 20% increase over last year, despite plans to draw down United States troop levels in both war zones in the coming months.

Kenya’s former president Daniel arap Moi should face an investigation over the country’s single biggest corruption scandal, according to leaked findings of an official inquiry. The inquiry is also said to recommend that a serving minister in the present Kenyan government faces criminal charges.