• Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered Iraq's military commanders yesterday to speed up preparations for a US-backed crackdown in Baghdad after a string of attacks killed hundreds of people in recent days.

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Hamas rivals arrived in Saudi Arabia yesterday for talks to end faction fighting which an envoy said had created a "catastrophic" situation.

• Flood waters receded in parts of Indonesia's capital yesterday, but huge areas remained submerged heightening the risk of disease amid questions over why more had not been done to prevent the disaster.

• A suicide bomber set off explosives in the car park at the airport of the Pakistani capital Islamabad yesterday after being challenged by police and at least two people were wounded, officials said.

• Japan stood by its refusal to give aid to North Korea yesterday unless Pyongyang settles a feud over Japanese kidnapped decades ago, adding a new twist to this week's talks on ending the North's nuclear arms programme.

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