Belfast - A memorial service to mark the tenth anniversary of the worst single atrocity of the Northern Ireland troubles, the Omagh bombing, was held in the County Tyrone town on Friday.

The attack, carried out by the Real IRA, a dissident Republican group, on 15th August 1998 killed 29 people.

Irish President Mary McAleese said in advance of the ceremony that "Omagh '98 will always be remembered for the horrific loss of innocent life and the terrible suffering caused to so many. But the way that its people responded to that tragedy will also mark Omagh '98 as a monument to the triumph of hope over despair."

London, Aug. 15 : Manchester Police have arrested three young men from Blackburn on suspicion of terrorism charges.

According to the Daily Express, two of the three were arrested at Manchester Airport, while the third was picked up from the Accrington area this morning.

All three men are said to be of Asian origin and are aged 21, 22 and 23 respectively.

The officers are now searching two addresses in one street in the Audley Range area of the town. A third house in Whalley Range is also being searched.

New Delhi, Aug 15 : Amidst impregnable security, the 62nd Independence Day celebrations across the country largely passed off peacefully on Friday.

In the wake of recent serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, elaborate security arrangements were made across the country.

Security forces were placed on high alert to prevent possible attacks from separatist militants and Maoist rebels. Extra security personnel were deployed in sensitive areas, especially in the capital.

Washington, Aug 15 : The creation of one-man cell seems to be the new strategy of Al Qaeda terrorists.

According to the FoX News, intelligence officials have discovered an online Al Qaeda manual that prescribes that group leaders should training new recruits to operate as smaller cells around the globe.

The manual, called “Method for Building the Personality of a Terrorist Mujahid” and written by an Islamist forum contributor nicknamed "Shamil al-Baghdadi," encourages militant followers to stop focusing on pulling off attacks on the scale of 9-11 and to start executing numerous smaller attacks.

Washington, Aug 15 : Russia’s military offensive into Georgia has jolted Washington’s relationship with Moscow, senior Bush Administration officials have said.

The offensive has forced a wholesale reassessment of American dealings with Russia and jeopardizing talks on everything from halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions to reducing strategic arsenals to cooperation on missiles defences

Even as the conflict between Russia and Georgia appeared to ease on Thursday, Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates said the Russian attack had forced a fundamental rethinking of the administration’s effort to forge “an ongoing and long-term strategic dialogue with Russia.”

London, Aug 15 : All British combat troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq by the middle of 2009, leaving a few hundred military trainers to continue instructing an Iraqi Army division based in Basra, according to proposals confirmed by defence sources.

The British sources also said that the Government had no plans to maintain a permanent base in Iraq, although they emphasised that no final decisions had been taken.

Details of the new British personnel structure are to be negotiated in the status-of-forces agreement to be signed with Baghdad, The Times reported.

The Ministry of Defence insisted the move was backed by the US, which it said is “intimately involved” in discussions about the British withdrawal.