• Pressure for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to resign intensified as the bank's board wrangled over whether his approval of a high-paying promotion for his girlfriend bent staff rules. The controversy over the promotion overshadowed the start of meetings in Washington of finance and aid ministers from rich and developing countries.

• North Korea said it may be ready to move in a stand-off over frozen assets it insists be unblocked before shutting down its nuclear reactor, one day before the first deadline of an atomic disarmament deal. Under an international agreement struck in February, the secretive state has until today to start shutting down its Soviet-era reactor and source of its weapons-grade plutonium.

• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is ready to begin discussing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow the legal, economic and governmental structures of a future Palestinian state, Mr Olmert's office said. But two officials in Mr Olmert's office said the three main final status issues - defining the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees - would not be on the agenda when the prime minister meets Mr Abbas in Jerusalem.