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 A suicide attack at a government office in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 12 people, officials say. A bomber on a motorbike reportedly drove into the gate of the National Database and Registration Authority in Mardan. "The death toll stands at 12 now, many others are injured," district police chief Faisal Shahzad said. The attack is one of worst since a security crackdown following the Peshawar school massacre a year ago.

 From the moment Sepp Blatter became FIFA president in 1998 he has been dogged by allegations of corruption, and calls from inside football and out, to stand aside. And for almost 20 years, he has managed to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. No matter how tight the corner he has always found a way to slip the punch and fight on. Whether it was allegations of bribery in his first election campaign, accusations of financial mismanagement in his second, or the corruption scandal surrounding the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, he has managed to stay on his feet. Until now. Video: Blatter: My Legacy Is A Good One On Monday in Zurich, years of ducking and weaving finally caught up with Blatter, as he was banned for eight years for making a £1.35m payment to Michel Platini that amounted to an abuse of his position as president. With an irony that will have delighted his opponents but appeared entirely lost on Blatter, the ban was handed down by FIFA's E

 A mother-of-five who was shot dead by a Chicago police officer was "accidentally" struck by gunfire, the embattled police department has said. Bettie Jones, 55, was one of two people fatally wounded early on Saturday after officers responded to a domestic violence call on the city's West Side. Chicago police said in a statement that officers "were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon". Quintonio LeGrier, 19, was also fatally shot by police "The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed," the statement added. The department, which is already facing intense scrutiny over the use of deadly force, said it extended its "deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends". Quintonio LeGrier, 19, who lived upstairs from Ms Jones, was also fatally wounded and later died in hospital. Authorities said the college student, who was home

 The French police dog killed in a raid to capture the terrorists who carried out the attacks in Paris that left 130 dead is to be awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. Diesel, whose death prompted the phrase Je Suis Chien to go viral on social media, will be posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal for bravery and devotion to duty. The seven-year-old Belgian shepherd dog died from multiple gunshot wounds on 18 November, five days after the attacks, when he was sent into a building to find attackers. His actions will be rewarded with the highest animal honour by the vet charity PDSA next year. Russia gave a German Shepherd puppy to France to replace Diesel :: Dickin Medal: Full List Of Awards PDSA director-general Jan McLoughlin said: "Following the tragic terrorist events in Paris last month, where many innocent people lost their lives, Diesel was instrumental in helping the French police locate and deal with the perpetrators. "When new

 The Iraq army claims to have captured the key city of Ramadi, in a major victory against Islamic State. After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday. Iraq's counter-terrorism forces raised the Iraqi flag above the complex on Monday, according to a military spokesman. The final stronghold for IS in Iraq is Tikrit "Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated," joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement broadcast on state television. A US defence official said it was so far unable to confirm the Iraqis' claims. Video: Iraqi Army Take Ramadi From I.S. The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni- Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, would deprive IS militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The Iraqi army had already retaken the city of Tikrit from the jihadists in the spring. The final strongh

 Belgian police have arrested two people suspected of planning attacks in Brussels on New Year's Eve. Raids took place on Sunday and Monday in Brussels and the provinces of Flemish Brabant and Liege. Police seized military clothing and propaganda materials in the raids, but no weapons or explosives. Belgium has been on high alert since the attacks of 13 November in Paris. Several of the perpetrators are thought to have been based in Belgium. However, the latest arrests are not linked to the Paris attacks, prosecutors say. One of those arrested is suspected of leading and recruiting for a terrorist cell. The suspects are accused of planning attacks against several "symbolic targets" in Brussels, as well as on the police, according to the Belgian broadcaster RTBF. Propaganda for the so-called Islamic State group was among the materials seized. In November Brussels was placed under a four-day lockdown closing universities, schools and the metro system, a

 ISIS monsters mutilated and murdered an innocent mum who was breastfeeding her son under a tree. Women-only group the Al-Khansaa Brigade meted out the horrific punishment on the streets of Raqqa, Syria. The mother had tucked her son under her black burqa to shield him from public view, only to be spotted by members of the murderous group. Aisha, a former Raqqa resident living in southern Turkey told the Sunday Times: “An [IS] policewoman took the baby, gave it to another woman, and then killed the mother.” Pro-IS social media sites later claimed the mother had violated public decency, and revealed she was mutilated before she was killed. Created about 18 months ago, the Al-Khansaa brigade includes women from North Africa, Gulf Arabs, Iraqis, Chechens, and western Europeans. Up to 60 British women are thought to have joined the psychotic group, with 20-year-old Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood understood to be a key member. The all-female brigade appear to be particularly ru

Islamic State theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when "owners" of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females. The ruling or fatwa has the force of law and appears to go beyond the Islamic State's previous known utterances on the subject, a leading Islamic State scholar said. It sheds new light on how the group is trying to reinterpret centuries-old teachings to justify the sexual slavery of women in the swaths of Syria and Iraq it controls. To read the fatwa click: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/doc/slaves_fatwa.pdf The fatwa was among a huge trove of documents captured by U.S. Special Operations Forces during a raid targeting a top Islamic State official in Syria in May. Reuters has reviewed some of the documents, which have not been previously published. Among the religious rulings are bans on a father and son having sex with t