• UN Security Council members worked on final changes to a resolution imposing new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, with calls for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East the main stumbling point. Major powers plan for a vote today, but delays are possible after Indonesia and Qatar insisted on language in the draft supporting a nuclear-free Middle East that the US opposes, presumably because it appears aimed at its ally Israel.
• A plane carrying 11 people helping African peacekeepers in Mogadishu burst into flames and crashed during a third day of fighting in an insurgency many fear could plunge Somalia back into civil war. The plane, a Russian-made Ilyushin, was hit by a missile as it took off from Mogadishu.
• The Italian government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Monday's release of kidnapped newspaper reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo came after Kabul freed five Taliban guerrillas on Rome's behalf. Security analysts and advocates of press freedom frowned on the swap but also roundly condemned the admission, believed to be the first of its kind by a Western government in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• The US House of Representatives defied President George W. Bush, voting to impose a September 1, 2008, deadline for withdrawing all American combat troops from Iraq. House Democrats succeeded in attaching the deadline to legislation authorizing more than $124 billion in emergency funds, mostly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.
• Talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear threat that ground to a halt over a stalled bank payment may restart soon as negotiators seek to focus on disarmament, the chief US envoy said. Negotiators at the six-party talks in Beijing could reconvene after $25 million in a Macau bank passes to Pyongyang hands, meeting North Korea's demand to see the money before it discusses any nuclear moves, Christopher Hill told reporters before heading back to Washington.
• US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins a new round of talks in the Middle East amid deep scepticism about whether the US is serious about promoting peace. Despite making her third trip to the region this year, with stops in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, Ms Rice faces doubts that Washington is really committed to pushing peace between Israel and the Palestinians.