International suspicion of Iran’s nuclear programme heightened on Friday when it was revealed that Tehran had obtained a blueprint showing how to build the core of a nuclear warhead. Diplomats said the blueprint for casting uranium was required in making the core of a nuclear warhead, although that alone was not enough for the manufacture of a weapon.

Bob Woodward, the journalist usually treated in the United States with a reverence reserved for elder statesmen, found himself under siege inside his own newspaper on Friday over his role in the CIA leak inquiry. Woodward, who was able to keep secret the identity of his most famous source — Deep Throat — for more than 30 years, was forced to give evidence to the special prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.

The actor Russell Crowe was fined and given a conditional discharge on Friday after admitting that he threw a phone that hit a New York hotel employee in June. Crowe was found guilty of a misdemeanour, and not the original more serious charge of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Voters in the tsunami-battered island of Sri Lanka elevated their hardline prime minister to the role of president in an election yesterday, sparking fears of unrest after days of poll violence. The office of Mahinda Rajapakse appealed for calm as the election commission declared him the winner by 50,29% to 48,38%.