• North Korea is committed to a disarmament pact reached in February but wants sanctions against it lifted first, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on his return from a trip he said had cleared the air. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El Baradei said in Beijing his visit, the IAEA's first to North Korea in more than four years, had been quite useful and opened the way to a normal relationship.

• Major powers expect an embargo on weapons Iran can export and a call to nations to restrict loans to Tehran as part of a sanctions package against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment work. No date for a vote has been set in the 15 nation UN Security Council and initial predictions for this weekend have slipped, China said.

• Car bombs in Baghdad, at a record high in February, remain a serious concern despite a month-old US-backed crackdown, a US general said in a more sober assessment than one given by Iraqi officials. Major General William Caldwell said murders and executions in the capital since the Baghdad security plan began on February14 had been halved but that sensational car bombs blamed on al Qaeda and other Sunni Arab militants had spiked in February.

• A huge blast in an ammunition shop in the heart of the Afghan capital killed at least six people and wounded 10, officials said. A suicide attack killed six more in the country's southeast. Several Kabul shops were razed by the early morning blast.