• US President George W. Bush renewed his support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday in the face of resignation calls, as the Democratic-led Congress moved to widen its probe into the firings of eight federal prosecutors. White House counsel Fred Fielding was negotiating with lawmakers over which, if any, administration officials would testify about the sackings, which touched off a firestorm in Congress into whether the dismissals were politically motivated.

• Six-party talks to end North Korea's nuclear threat turned into a tug-of-war yesterday, with Pyongyang focused on receiving unfrozen bank funds while other powers made frustrated efforts to advance disarmament plans. Washington has said Pyongyang will soon get $25 million freed from a Macau bank, as the talks in Beijing try to steer ahead a February 13 agreement giving North Korea aid and security assurances in return for shutting a nuclear reactor and agreeing other disarmament steps within 60 days.

• Germany and China urged rapid approval of a UN draft resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme after South Africa surprised major powers by proposing a softening of the wording. The proposed resolution, designed to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium, would put in place an embargo on Iranian arms exports and freeze financial assets abroad of 28 individuals, groups and companies.

• Conrad Black and his former associates were greedy thieves who stole millions from investors, prosecutors told a jury yesterday, but lawyers for the failed media baron said he was guilty of nothing and himself a victim of corporate villainy. "You're sitting in a room with four men who stole $60 million, four men who believed their five-and six-figure salaries were not enough," prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer said as the US government opened its case.