• Iraq's government renewed its pledge to crack down on militants after a massive suicide truck bomb killed 135 people in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Saturday's attack was the deadliest single bombing since the US-led invasion in 2003. It shocked even Iraqis accustomed to relentless violence that threatens to plunge the country into full-scale sectarian civil war.

• North Korea's top nuclear envoy has told former US officials Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor. Shutting down North Korea's sole operating reactor would be a good first step when six-country discussions on ending the North's nuclear weapons programme resume in Beijing on Thursday, South Korea's envoy to the talks said.

• President George W. Bush said his upcoming budget proposal would emphasise restraint on domestic spending while making defence and war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan the top priority. "Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address.

• Security forces in Bangladesh detained seven ex-ministers and several other influential politicians from across the political spectrum in swoops on their Dhaka homes, officials and media reports said. They were the most high-profile figures to be detained since the declaration of a state of emergency on January 11, which followed weeks of street protests and pre-election violence.

• The Taliban promised a spring offensive of thousands of suicide bombers as the US, doubling its combat troops in Afghanistan, took over command of the 33,000-strong Nato force in the country. As US General Dan McNeill took over the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Nato said the Taliban leader in a southern district was killed yesterday as part of an offensive to recapture the key town of Musa Qala from the rebels.

• Muslim rebels released a top Philippine general, a senior government official and their aides after holding them for two nights in their camp on a remote southern island. "I'm okay. I'm glad this crisis is over," Brigadier-General Ben Dolorfino, commander of military forces in Manila, told reporters after arriving at the military's base on Jolo island, 950 km south of the capital.