• The Iraqi government plans to bring in troop reinforcements to take part in a major security plan forBaghdad but a US general said the key to success would be a balanced approach rather than sheer force. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a major security plan for Baghdad on Saturday, vowing to crush illegally armed militias "regardless of sect or politics".

• Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops in Somalia's capital Mogadishu as Somali and US officials meeting to discuss security in the chaotic state vowed to work together to stabilise it. In the second day of violence in Mogadishu directed at Ethiopian troops, Somali gunmen opened fire on Ethiopians backing the interim government, a resident said.

• Tens of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah rallied in the Gaza Strip, putting on a show of force in the stronghold of the governing Hamas Islamist movement. The two factions have been locked in a violent power struggle that some Palestinians fear could spark civil war. The internal unrest has worsened since President Abbas called last month for early elections to break a political deadlock with Hamas.

• Hundreds of soldiers and policemen raided insurgent hideouts in jungles of India's restive northeastern state of Assam after separatist rebels killed at least 57 people in two days of coordinated strikes.

• House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed aggressive scrutiny of President George W. Bush's expected plan to send more US troops to Iraq, but stopped short of saying Congress would block funding for the White House strategy.

• A much-criticised reform of the German healthcare system appears likely to come into force as planned in April after leading conservative opponents of the measure signalled at the weekend they were ready to compromise.