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Aggressive operations were being carried out against both Shia and Sunni militants, and against al-Qaeda. And he warned of devastating consequences if US troops pulled out of Iraq prematurely.

If American forces were to step back from Baghdad before it is more secure, a contagion of violence could spill out across the entire country. In time this violence could engulf the region. The terrorists could emerge from the chaos with a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they had in Afghanistan, which they used to plan the attacks of September the 11th,2001. For the safety of the American people, we cannot allow this to happen.

Mr. Bush also asked for more time, warning that the deployment of extra troops in the capital would take months not weeks to take effect. However, our correspondent in Washington Johnathan Bill says that many Americans are running out of patience with their President's strategy.

Latest poll shows that he's only got 30% support for his policies. In Iraq, the vast majority of the country against him. Here in the United States, also, you see a number of demonstrations this weekend, marking the fourth anniversary, which attracted thousands of people including here in the Capitol. Having said that you are not at a tipping point yet, he believes he's got time. And this speech was really appealing to the nation to give him that time.

A lawyer for the Iraqi former vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan says his client will be hanged in a few hours time. The lawyer said he has spoken to his client, who had told him that he has no fear of death and would die bravely. The Iraqi former deputy leader was sentenced for his involvement in the killing of more than 100 Shia Muslim villagers in the 1980s.

The BBC says it's increasingly concerned about its correspondent in Gaza, Alan Johnston, who has been missing for a week. The head of the BBC's Middle East bureau Simond Walson said it looks certain that he had been abducted. Meanwhile, the European Union policy chief Javier Solana says although he does not have any specific information to make public about the whereabouts of Alan Johnston, efforts are being made to get him released.

"I can tell you that from the very first day, we have been doing the utmost, talking to all the leaders from the Palestinians, and to some friends of the civil society that I know and he knew, and to try to see if we can (there) liberate him - the sooner, the better... "

An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Russia has killed almost 80 people. It's the country's deadliest mining accident in a decade. Rescuers are trying to reach more than 40 men who are still trapped underground following the blast in the mine in Siberia. The rescuers say their work is made difficult by thick smoke and a buildup of methane gas that caused the explosion. They say they have rescued 75 of the 200 miners who were working in the pit at the time of the blast.

World News from the BBC.

Two New York policemen have been charged with manslaughter for their part in the shooting of an unarmed black man last year, an incident which led to allegations of racism. Sean Bell was killed when police fired fifty bullets into his car outside a nightclub, a few hours before he was due to be married. The two officers face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty. The prosecutor Richard Brown gave details of the grand jury's decision.

"Two of the officers have been charged with manslaughter in the first degree and in the second degree. That is to say both with intentional manslaughter and reckless manslaughter."

The government of Zimbabwe has threatened to expel foreign ambassadors who, it believes, are providing support to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has recently accused the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia of helping the MDC's political campaign, which he said was aimed at bringing down his government. Those countries have strongly criticized what they describe as police brutality against opposition leaders, some of whom emerged from police detention last week with severe injuries. Ground Ferret reports.

Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi summoned western ambassadors to deliver a blunt message: support the opposition and you will be thrown out. He said that under the Vienna Convention, embassies were forbidden from interfering in the internal affairs of their host nation. He said President Mugabe's government would not hesitate to expel diplomats who violated the rules.

France's highest constitutional body has announced the names of the 12 candidates who have qualified to contest the forthcoming presidential election. It will decide who succeeds presidential Chirac, who is stepping down. The front runners are expected to be Nicolas Sarkozy of the governing center right Union for a Popular Movement, the Socialist candidate Segolene Royal and centralist polititian Franccedilois Bayrou. Candidates needed the endorsement of at least five hundred elected officials to take part. The first round of voting takes place on April the 22nd.

BBC World News.