• Suicide bombers killed 29 people in Baghdad after a meeting of officials of world powers, Iraq and neighbouring states agreed it was vital to all to stop sectarian violence spreading across the region.

• Iran said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to brief the UN Security Council about his country's civilian nuclear plans, which the West says are a covert attempt to make atom bombs.

• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks that yielded little sign of progress towards peace.

• Russians voted in regional elections seen as a dress rehearsal for parliamentary elections in December and an exit poll suggested two big pro-Kremlin parties were likely to win by a large margin.

• President George W. Bush visited Colombia to show support to his closest ally in South America as it fights a decades-old insurgency and drug war supported in part by billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

• Senegal's top court confirmed President Abdoulaye Wade's landslide re-election to five more years in office, throwing out an appeal by the main opposition over alleged irregularities in last month's poll.

• Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri lashed out at the leadership of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas over its Saudi-brokered deal with the U.S.-backed Palestinian faction Fatah.

• Mauritanians voted to choose a President and restore civilian rule to the Saharan Islamic state after 19 months under a military junta.

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