World Highlights

• A car bomb and several mortars ripped through central Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and wounding 101 others, police sources said. The car bomb in the shopping district of Karrada heavily damaged a building, raising fears the death toll could rise, said Ministry of Interior sources. The mortars landed nearby.

• The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven of his top lieutenants for crimes against humanity was adjourned to October when the verdict carrying the maximum penalty of death, is expected to be delivered. "The court decided to adjourn the session... until October 16," said chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.

• A year after President George W. Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed him UN Ambassador on a temporary basis, John Bolton told the body's Foreign Relations Committee he has been effective and deserves a full appointment. Committee Republicans said Mr Bolton's experience was needed amid crisis in the Middle East and said they hoped the full Senate would vote to keep him in the post for the rest of Mr Bush's term.

• The failure by major donors to follow through on aid pledges to Afghanistan could undermine its efforts to quell an insurgency in the impoverished Muslim state, Nato warned. The alliance is set to takeover military operations from the US-led coalition in the violent south of the country on Monday, thrusting it into what will likely be the toughest combat mission in its history.

• Forty-one million people turned out to vote, but Mexico's fiercely disputed presidential election now sits with seven judges whose decisions could steady a shaky democracy or plunge it deeper into crisis.