Prime Minister Tony Blair says there is "no excuse" for the bloodshed to continue in Iraq with the formation of a new government. Mr Blair said this was a "new beginning" which would allow Iraqis to "take charge of their own destiny". He was speaking at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki after landing in Baghdad on Monday. The new government has vowed to crack down on terrorism - but key ministries still remain unfilled. Mr Blair's arrival in Baghdad from Kuwait was shrouded in secrecy, and comes amid continuing violence. Two blasts on Monday morning claimed at least five lives. The new government was sworn in on Saturday and Mr Maliki vowed to use all means necessary, including "maximum force", to restore security.

Violence keeps us here: Mr Blair said it had taken "three years of struggle" to reach the formation of a government. "For the first time, we have a government of national unity that crosses all boundaries and divides, that is there for a four-year term and [is] directly elected by the votes of millions of Iraqi people." He refused to lay out a timetable for the withdrawal of troops, but said there was "no vestige of an excuse" for the "terrorism and bloodshed" to continue. "If the worry of people is the presence of the multinational forces, it is the violence that keeps us here. It is the peace that allows us to go." He sharply dismissed reporters who questioned the worth of the invasion of Iraq. "Here we are at a press conference where you are able to put me, the British prime minister and this, the new Iraqi prime minister, under pressure. That is what has happened in Iraq," he said. Mr Maliki said the plan was for Iraqi forces to take over control of operations from the multi-national forces as they become ready, province by province, beginning in June. He said reconstruction was a priority, and that talks were continuing to appoint the ministers of defence and the interior. Mr Maliki denied there was a civil war - only "groups committing terrorism". This is the second time the British prime minister has visited Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, and he is the first world leader to visit the new government. His show of support for the new national unity government indicates how important he considers it for Iraq's future - and perhaps too his own legacy. Our correspondent says the prime minister seems genuinely hopeful that the establishment of an elected, full-term government marks a new start for Iraq. But Mr Blair still concedes the new government may not succeed. His call to insurgents to lay down their arms, says our correspondent, depends on whether the new government can draw them into the political process - something that is far from guaranteed. A senior British official travelling with the prime minister said the withdrawal of the present multinational force should be accomplished within four years, with a handover of power to civilian forces in several provinces during the summer. He insisted this was not a timetable for troop withdrawal and did not automatically mean the swift repatriation of large numbers of UK troops.

The UK attorney general is visiting Israel to seek evidence as he considers bringing charges against two Israeli soldiers who killed two Britons.  James Miller, 34, a Devon film-maker and Tom Hurndall, 22, a London peace activist, were shot dead in separate incidents by soldiers in Gaza in 2003. Relatives of the men have asked Lord Goldsmith QC to prosecute for war crimes under the Geneva Convention. During his trip he will meet Israeli ministers and military officials. Israeli military prosecutors have insisted that further prosecutions will only take place if fresh evidence emerges. But Lord Goldsmith said he believed the Israeli authorities would give him their full cooperation. He said while in Israel he would be considering "whether there ought to be prosecutions here in either of these cases". "I will carefully consider this without any preconceptions," he said. "This is not about raising expectations about whether anything is going to happen one way or another." Lord Goldsmith is hoping to meet Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz, Minister of Defence Amir Peretz and Minister of Justice Haim Ramon. He is also seeking an appointment with the country's military advocate general, Brigadier Avichai Mendelblitt. Mr Hurndall was moving children away from the army in the Palestinian town of Rafah when he was shot in April 2003. Mr Miller was gunned down only a mile away three weeks later as he was making a film about Palestinian children.

Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldier Sergeant Taysir Hayb is serving an eight-year sentence for the manslaughter of Mr Hurndall but so far no one has been convicted of shooting Mr Miller. Last month an inquest jury in London decided Mr Miller's shooting was unlawful and that the father-of-two had been murdered. During the inquest Mr Miller's widow Sophy named the soldier who shot her husband as First Lieutenant Heib, from the Bedouin Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. It was said he had been due to face a disciplinary hearing, but was acquitted by the head of the army's Southern Command. Mrs Miller has requested for all the evidence from the military police investigation to be released.

A sex slavery cult based on a series of 1960s science fiction novels has been uncovered by police in Darlington. Durham Police discovered the bizarre sect after raiding a home in the area, after receiving complaints that a woman was being held against her will. But a spokesman said the Canadian was a willing participant and the other people involved were consenting adults. The group, called Kaotians, follow the Chronicles of Gor novels which depict a society where women are dominated. The 29-year-old woman is said to have voluntarily attended the sect after finding out about it over the internet. She later contacted a friend in United States, who then contacted the police, saying she wanted to leave but couldn't as she had burnt her passport and return ticket. But a police spokesman said upon arriving at the premises they did not find any evidence of "criminal offences". Police also investigated claims by a father in Essex his 18-year-old son had joined the sect. However police also found the teenager was at the property voluntari

ly and they had no grounds to get involved. Lee Thompson, 31, says he is the "master" who trains the slaves at the Darlington address. He said the women who act as slaves "do so by their own choice". "We're just a group of people that live a different lifestyle, I mean there's nothing wrong with that," he told BBC News. "We don't hurt anyone, we don't damage anyone, everyone's consensual." Members of the group based their lives on "a dominant submissive point of view", he said. "It's one thing that everyone's missed out on so far is, even in our organisation, if that's what you want to call it, women can be free and they can be dominant, we don't stop that," he added. "But the majority of women in our organisation are obviously slaves because women have a submissive streak in them." Mr Thompson says up to 350 followers regularly meet in pubs and clubs around the North East, in an area from Berwick to York. Kaotians are a splinter group of the Goreans, which base their beliefs on novels written by American university professor John Norman. The books are set on the quasi-medieval planet of Gor, which has a caste system and uses women as slaves. There are an estimated 25,000 Goreans worldwide.

The Home Office is investigating allegations that five illegal immigrants had cleaned immigration service offices for years. Channel 4 News reported that five Nigerians had worked at Immigration and Nationality Directorate premises, including one for three years. The Home Office said it would look into it "fully and as quickly as possible". It had earlier said the men were stopped when they first turned up for work due to the "alertness" of staff. Channel 4 News reported on Friday that the company the five worked for, Techclean, had said in a statement the cleaners had been working for months. "Each of the five individuals has worked at the premises of the IND on a number of occasions; one of them for about three years," Channel 4 said. Two of the men had worked for two years at IND, one cleaner for one year and one for six months, according to Techclean. The Home Office said the home secretary had highlighted that no system could be safe. "We understood last night that people had turned up for work for the first time and were stopped, their names checked and found not to be cleared, and the authorities were therefore called in and they were arrested," a Home Office spokesman said. " The home secretary made it clear last night that the fact that the system had worked successfully in this way was a cause for praise for the alertness of the security guard. "He also made it absolutely clear that no system was 100% foolproof and that there may have been occasions in the past where people had got through the system." Shadow home secretary David Davis accused Home Secretary John Reid of misleading the public. "Yet again we see the Home Office and now the home secretary have misled the public over a very serious breach of national and Home Office security," he said. Techclean launched its own probe after it sent five illegal immigrants to work in the Home Office premises. Techclean said the five men appeared to have "circumvented" safeguards. The Nigerians were arrested in London after being sent to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's Becket House. "Techclean PLC and its subsidiaries have in place recruitment procedures in strict accordance with government guidelines and take the process of recruitment extremely seriously," the company's statement on Thursday said. This matter is subject to investigation and we will not be making any further statement at this time." Earlier this week a director at the IND caused a row after saying he did not have the "faintest idea" how many illegal immigrants were in the UK.