• A wave of pre-dawn mortar attacks pounded Mogadishu and killed at least 16 people in one of the most brutal bombardments since an Islamist movement was forced out of the Somali capital last month. The hilltop presidential palace, Villa Somalia, and the coastal city's defence headquarters were among the targets hit in attacks that struck many quarters of Mogadishu and sent hundreds of residents fleeing to outlying towns.

• India released sketches of two suspects in the bombing of a train to Pakistan that killed 68 people and both countries vowed not to let the attack disrupt a slow-moving peace process. Police said the suitcase bombs were the work of at least four or five people and a militant outfit must have been responsible for Sunday night's attack.

• A Nigerian court ruled that President Olusegun Obasanjo had no power to sack the vice president, a move that would have stripped Atiku Abubakar of his immunity from prosecution on corruption charges. The ruling is a political lifeline for the vice president, who is engaged in a complex legal and political struggle with Mr Obasanjo and wants to run for president in landmark elections in April.

• Janjaweed militias have been concentrating forces to the north of el-Geneina, the capital of Sudan's West Darfur state, an African Union military source said, corroborating a UN report. Janjaweed is the local name for militia forces drawn mainly from the nomadic Arab tribes of the area and blamed for much of the killing in Darfur over the past four years.