Bush insists he was right.

President George Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq as he conceded investigators had not found the weapons of mass destruction he had warned the country possessed.

Allowing Iraq to possibly transfer weapons capability to terrorists was not a risk he was willing to take, Bush said.

Without directly acknowledging the intelligence was flawed, Bush said a wide array of government leaders, from members of the Clinton administration to lawmakers to the UN Security Council, had studied the same intelligence and "saw a threat".

Hostage's plea

INSURGENTS holding a Filipino truck driver hostage said yesterday he was still alive, but had been moved to the place where he was to be killed if the Philippines did not agree to remove their troops from Iraq, according to a video on the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera.

The Philippines government said the kidnappers had extended the deadline hanging over Angelo dela Cruz until tonight. Dela Cruz pleaded with the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to withdraw the troops before they were scheduled to leave on August 20 so that he would not be killed.

Spain's alarm

FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw reassured Spain yesterday that a British nuclear-powered submarine docked in Gibraltar posed no threat after Spain protested at the submarine's visit to the contested British colony.

Straw said he told his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos that Britain "understood the sensitivity" of HMS Tireless's visit, which coincided with celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the outpost's capture from Spain.

Migrants land

AFTER weeks stranded in the Mediterranean, 37 Africans were allowed to disembark in Italy yesterday after officials bowed to international pressure and agreed to accept the desperate migrants.

All but one of the refugees are from Sudan, and most say they fled Darfur, where Arab attackers have razed hundreds of villages, killed tens of thousands and driven more than a million from their homes.

Milosevic still ill

JUDGES in Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial ordered another delay in the start of his defence case yesterday, following a medical test showing his blood pressure is still too high.

The former Yugoslav president had been scheduled to begin the presentation of his defence in the Hague on Wednesday, after three earlier postponements. Judges at the UN tribunal said he is still too sick and will review his health next Monday.