He Who Must Live documents Cuban leader’s escapes from bacteria-infected hankie, exploding cigar and poisoned wetsuit Illness has forced him from public view but Fidel Castro is back in Cuban living rooms via a lavish television series that celebrates his escape from 638 assassination plots. The eight-part series, He Who Must Live is an extravagant departure from Cuban TV’s typically low-budget fare: more than 1,000 actors and extras are used in a mix of CSI-type fiction, docu-drama and archive material. The interior ministry, institute of police sciences and state-sanctioned film-makers teamed up to tell the story of how the CIA spent decades trying to murder the US’s tropical communist foe

Minister apologises for timing of statement, but not for the plan itself – to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land Israel apologised to Joe Biden today for announcing a plan to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land during his visit, after the US vice-president launched a strongly worded attack on the planned construction in an East Jerusalem settlement. An Israeli cabinet minister apologised for the timing of the announcement but not for its substance.

Secret back-channel chats with Taliban leaders point to a willingness to end conflict, says UK David Miliband’s call for a major political push towards a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan follows a series of back-channel contacts between a string of international intermediaries and the Taliban, the Guardian can reveal.

Suspected militants armed with grenades attack offices of World Vision humanitarian group Suspected militants armed with grenades attacked the offices of an international aid group in north-west Pakistan today, killing five people working for the organisation, police said. The attack targeted World Vision, a large Christian humanitarian group helping survivors of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, in Mansehra district

The spiritual home of the Taliban will be the scene of intense US efforts to crush the rebels this summer, the most significant struggle of the year After three hours of lugging heavy gear around Arghandab, a lush valley flanking Afghanistan’s second city of Kandahar, and with the sun about to set, the men of Bravo company were hungry: they were beginning to think about chow.

Party’s revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit, court is told The British National party plans to send officials to vet all would-be members in their homes, a court heard today. A clause in the far right group’s revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit by two party officials, Central London county court was told

• Waterboarding of 9/11 suspect was ‘concealed’ • Manningham-Buller criticises Bush staff The government protested to the US over the torture of terror suspects, the former head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller revealed last night. She also said the Americans concealed from Britain the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 2001 attacks.

As special adviser to General Stanley McChrystal, he is persuading that country’s insurgents to abandon their arms Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb, former British SAS commander and key figure behind moves to “reintegrate” and “reconcile” former Taliban fighters, has probably been more influential in Iraq and Afghanistan than at any time during his career as an army officer. The straight-talking, unfussy soldier has become so largely because he is trusted and respected by senior American commanders, including General David Petraeus , whom Lamb helped to set up the Iraqi “surge” in 2007 and the Sunni Awakening, when insurgents there gave up their fight

Voters in many eurozone member countries can be forgiven for thinking that the single currency has only made things worse The euro faced its first big challenge in this banking crisis – and it failed. That is not the assertion of a British newspaper but comes from Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, who admitted this week that “the sanctions we have were not good enough”.

Claims that British troops killed and abused prisoners are rejected by the MoD, that insists there is no credible evidence An investigation into claims that British troops killed and abused prisoners will be led by a former head of a Scotland Yard murder squad. The case will involve seeking evidence from witnesses to a fierce battle in southern Iraq six years ago. The huge task was announced today at the launch of a public inquiry into allegations that British soldiers murdered 20 or more Iraqis after the “battle of Danny Boy”, named after a checkpoint in Maysan province, north of Basra, on 14 May 2004.