• Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree yesterday to dissolve parliament and set a new election to the assembly for May 27. The decision is one of the most dramatic steps taken by Mr Yushchenko, criticised by both allies and rivals for indecisiveness during two years in power.

• In a defeat for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court ruled that a US government agency has the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming. By a 5-4 vote, the nation's highest court said the US Environmental Protection Agency "has offered no reasoned explanation"for its refusal to carbon dioxide and other emissions from new cars and trucks that contribute to climate change.

• A suicide truck bomb killed 12 people and wounded around 150 others in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in the latest attack by insurgents using explosives-laden trucks. Many of the victims were women and children at a nearby school.

• Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the deadliest single attack against the force since late 2004. The five were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday, an AU spokesman said. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds yesterday morning.

• Thousands of Somalis were fleeing violence in Mogadishu on foot or by donkey, car or truck in an exodus that was massive even by the standards of a city that has become a byword for war. But once away from the bullets and missiles of Mogadishu, the Somalis have to contend with thieves, hunger, thirst and lack of shelter, aid agencies and refugees said.

• The US is asking Iran to provide information about a former FBI agent believed to have gone missing several weeks ago while on private business there, US officials said. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the family and employer of the man reported him missing and the State Department was sending an official inquiry to Iran via Swiss diplomats, who act as a go-between with Tehran because the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.