World highlights

• The US said yesterday its military was expecting to suffer heavier casualties as it pushed into "tougher neighbourhoods" in a bid to crush insurgency in Iraq. The White House warning came on a day when 25 people were killed near Ramadi in two suicide bombings police blamed on al Qaeda. They were the latest in a string of big car bombings across Iraq in recent weeks that have killed hundreds despite a US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad and outlying areas.

• Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended a judicial panel's hearing into accusations against the country's top judge, while the government raised the possibility of declaring an emergency over the judicial crisis.The government's move to sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 outraged the legal community, which sees it as an attack on judicial independence, and galvanised opposition to President Pervez Musharraf in the run-up to elections.

• EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said his talks with Iran on its disputed nuclear programme were very difficult, while Tehran stressed it had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment."The situation as you know is very difficult because what we are demanding from Iran is the suspension of activities as long as the negotiations take place... For the moment this is very difficult to obtain," he told a European Parliament committee.

• Rescue workers in Cameroon pulled remains of victims from a fetid swamp yesterday two days after a Kenya Airways plane crashed, killing all 114 people on board. The Boeing 737-800 fell into densely forested swampland early on Saturday, minutes after leaving Douala for Nairobi in torrential rain.