• Indonesia's capital faced more misery from floods that officials estimate have killed at least 20 people and displaced 340,000, as swollen rivers and canals spilled muddy water onto the city streets. The flooding in parts of the tropical city of nine million people has been up to four metres deep, causing blackouts, cutting telephone lines and blocking key roads.

• The head of Hyundai Motor was sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling funds from the world's No. 6 auto maker, dealing another blow to a company battling a rising won and restive labour unions. The surprise ruling, which sent shares in the country's top carmaker down more than three per cent, rekindled worries over a management vacuum at the auto giant.

• Iran has set up two cascades of 164 centrifuges each in its underground nuclear plant, laying a basis for full-scale enrichment of uranium and upping the stakes in a standoff with the West, European diplomats said. The cascades were to be vacuum-tested shortly, without uranium feedstock inside, and fuel material would then be added if the trial runs were successful, they said.