Sixteen American soldiers who served in Iraq are suing the defence contractor KBR, accusing it of knowingly exposing them to a cancer-causing chemical.

The soldiers say they were exposed to the chemical while working at a water pumping plant in southern Iraq.

Their lawsuit, filed in a US District Court, claims that KBR managers knew the site was contaminated but "downplayed and disregarded" the risk.

KBR denies the accusation and has vowed to fight the lawsuit.

'Nasal tumours'

The claims go back to 2003, when the soldiers, from the Indiana National Guard, were protecting the Qarmat Ali water pumping plant in Southern Iraq.

The 23-page lawsuit argues that KBR managers knew as early as May of that year that the site was contaminated

A British soldier has died in southern Iraq after suffering a gunshot wound to the head, the Ministry of Defence said.

The next of kin have been informed of the death of the soldier, who was serving with 9 Regiment Army Air Corps.

The MoD also said no enemy forces were involved in the incident and that there was no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the incident.

This latest death means the total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq has reached 177.

The incident happened at 0900 local time (0600 GMT).

The MoD said medical assistance had been provided immediately, but the soldier had been declared dead at the scene.

Iran officials have confirmed the deaths of 13 police officers who were being held by Sunni militants.

The men were among 16 officers seized in south-eastern Iran in June by a group called Jundullah.

Three of the group were killed in June and the others were reportedly taken across the border to Pakistan.

Iranian police patrol the long border with Pakistan and suffer regular casualties in the battle against drug smugglers, say correspondents.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says Jundullah, or Army of God, is engaged in a mixture of political violence and drug smuggling in the often lawless region.

The group seized the men from a checkpoint in Saravan, Sistan-Baluchestan province, and demanded the release of 200 of its members from Iranian pr

Israeli forces have begun evacuating Jewish settlers from a disputed building in the West Bank city of Hebron, witnesses say.

Israeli television footage showed police dragging settlers out of the building. Hundreds of officers were involved in the operation.

The settlers have been refusing to leave the house, in defiance of an Israeli Supreme Court order.

Earlier the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak met the group.

The settlers have been involved in days of days of stone-throwing clashes with Palestinians.

Hundreds of their supporters and activists have flocked to the area to show their solidarity with the building's occupiers.

Israeli defence officials have expressed fears the Hebron tensions will spill to other areas of the

Sharjah, one of the seven emirates that makes up the UAE, is to bar workers in certain jobs from applying for driving licenses, a newspaper has reported.

The ban will cover 86 categories of mainly menial jobs - including cooks, housemaids, gardeners, and tailors.

It was brought in by Sharjah's police traffic department to curb congestion and pollution, the report says.

The United Arab Emirates have one of the highest ratios of car ownership to population in the world.

The report, which appeared in the Gulf News daily newspaper, was linked to from Sharjah's official police website.

The impact of the ban on workers may be compounded by the poor state of public transport in the emirate.

Many, if not most, of those hit by the driving ban will be foreign