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LONDON (Reuters) - A British security firm operating in Iraq has launched an investigation to find out if any of its employees were involved in video clips which appear to show Iraqi civilians being shot at. Aegis, which won a 169 million pound contract from the U.S. government last year to operate in Iraq, said in a statement its inquiry would "investigate whether the footage has any connection with the company". The video clips have been posted on the Internet in recent days. One of them is  ...

By Thierry Leveque PARIS (Reuters) - The government extradited an Algerian man to France on Thursday to face charges of blowing up a Paris subway station a decade ago, ending a legal battle that soured relations between the two countries. Rachid Ramda lost a drawn-out battle to prevent his extradition after being held in high-security British jails since he was arrested on a French warrant shortly after the attacks in 1995. "Justice will finally be done," French Prime Minister Dominique de Vi ...

WACO, Texas (AP) -- President Bush could get a new title: juror No. 286. The president is among 600 potential jurors who have been summoned to report to court Monday in McLennan County, where his 1,600-acre Crawford ranch is located. State District Judge Ralph Strother said he expects to get a response about the summons but doesn't expect Bush to report for duty. "I don't think I'll be sending the sheriff out to bring the president in," said Strother, a Republican who has a grandson serving  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Five Albanians who ran a violent, organised gang which lured young women from Lithuania to Britain where they were forced to work in brothels were jailed for a total of 63 years on Thursday. Their major pimping and prostitution operation, which involved seven brothels across west London, was smashed by detectives who had been searching for a missing 16-year-old Lithuanian girl. She was persuaded to go to Britain by two men she met in Lithuania and arrived in November 2004. O ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House expressed concern on Thursday at reports that the U.S. military has secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military task force. The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday the program began this year and the articles were written in English, translated into Arabic and then given to Baghdad newspapers to print in return for money. "We're very concerned about the reports. We are seeking more information fr ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Much-loved actor David Jason, famed for his role as wheeler-dealer Del Boy in the TV sitcom "Only Fools and Horses", was knighted by the Queen on Thursday. Jason, 65, who also won a legion of fans for his performances in "A Touch of Frost" and "The Darling Buds of May," received his honour at Buckingham Palace. Del Boy would have been proud. "He would have loved all this," Jason told the BBC. But he was less forthcoming about what the Queen had said to him during the ceremo ...

By Fiona Shaikh LONDON (Reuters) - Retail sales volumes fell at their fastest pace in at least 22 years in November and the outlook for the Christmas period looked just as glum, a survey said on Thursday. The Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades survey said its sales balance fell to -35 in November, down from -18 in October and well below retailers' own forecast for -15, marking the lowest since the survey began in 1983. The data sent the pound down a fifth of a cent agains ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A 17-year-old youth and his 20-year-old cousin were given long jail sentences on Thursday for the racist murder of Anthony Walker, a black student bludgeoned to death with an ice axe. The judge said Michael Barton, 17, younger brother of Manchester City soccer player Joey Barton, must serve 17 years and 8 months in jail, for killing the 18-year-old college student in an unprovoked attack in July. His cousin, Paul Taylor, who admitted murdering the devout Christian in a park  ...

PARIS (Reuters) - An Algerian man was extradited to France on Thursday to face charges of blowing up a Paris metro station a decade ago, the French Justice Ministry said. Ramda lost a drawn-out battle to prevent his extradition after being held in high security British jails since he was arrested on a French warrant shortly after the 1995 attack. "Rachid Ramda is at this moment on a plane to Paris," a ministry spokesman said. A judicial source said Ramda would be handed over to an anti-terror ...

By Ron Popeski and Marcin Grajewski KIEV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday the European Union's future budget would have to be smaller, despite pleas from the poor new eastern members, unless there was a fundamental reform of farm spending. His official spokesman gave the clearest indication so far that Britain would agree to give up part of its annual rebate from EU coffers to share the cost of the 25-member bloc's enlargement into eastern Europe last year. Lead ...