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Southern African countries have refused to recognise Madagascar's new leader, Andry Rajoelina, who on Tuesday ousted the democratically-elected president. Regional body Sadc, to which Madagascar belongs, said constitutional rule should be restored as soon as possible.

The Southern African Development Community statement said the 15-member group "condemns in the strongest terms the circumstances that led to the ousting of a democratically-elected president of Madagascar".

A US state department spokesman said of Madagascar: "We view this as an undemocratic transfer of power."

The US government is to increase security at the country's border with Mexico in an attempt to combat drug cartels, the White House has announced. Immigration, customs and anti-drug agents and gun law enforcement officers will be reinforced as part of a $700m (£475m) undertaking.

Some 8,000 have died in Mexico in the past two years in drug gang turf wars. The south-west US has also seen rising violence and kidnappings.

The money will come out of funds already allocated by the US Congress to assist Mexico in its fight against the drug cartels.

China says video footage that purportedly shows Chinese security personnel violently beating Tibetans last year is "a lie". The video apparently shows protesters being beaten with sticks, and kicked and choked by China's security forces. The Tibetan government-in-exile says the footage shows China's "brutality".

a Chinese government official said many of the images and voices in the video had been pieced together from different sources. The video-sharing site YouTube has recently been blocked in China, which could be because the site had been carrying the contentious video.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says that about 220 Tibetans were killed and nearly 1,300 seriously injured following the unrest last year. The Chinese government says at least 18 civilians and one policeman were killed, mostly in riots in Lhasa on 14 March.

The Czech government lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence on Tuesday, suffering an embarrassing defeat midway through its presidency of the European Union and casting doubt on the country’s ability to shepherd the world’s biggest trading bloc during a time of economic crisis.

the Czech government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek seemed to be collapsing more as a result of political infighting.

Mr. Topolanek said Tuesday that he would resign after the motion passed, 101 to 96, in the 200-seat lower house.

Israeli officials have described as "tasteless" and inconsistent with army values a popular military pastime of printing violent cartoons on T-shirts. An investigation in Haaretz daily says the customised shirts are often ordered when troops finish training courses. One example shows a pregnant Arab women in the cross-hairs of a sniper's sight with the legend "1 shot 2 kills". Another design shows a child being similarly targeted with the slogan "the smaller they are, the harder it is". In both images the people being targeted appear to be carrying weapons. A third T-shirt design shows a dead Palestinian baby and the words "Better use Durex"

A sociologist quoted by Haaretz, Orna Sasson-Levy of Bar-Ilan University, warned the designs could strengthen, stimulate and legitimise aggression towards Palestinians in the occupied territories. "There is... increasing callousness," she said. "There is a perception that the Palestinian is not a person, a human being entitled to basic rights and therefore anything may be done to him."

Other designs appeared to bear witness to officially prohibited practices, such as "confirming the kill" (shooting lifeless enemies' bodies in the head to ensure they are dead), or deliberately harming religious sites and non-combatants.

North Korea says it has put its military on full combat alert as a big military exercise by US and South Korean forces begins.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war."

The army earlier issued a separate statement saying all military personnel had been ordered "to be fully combat ready" in order to defend the nation.

Seven people have been arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of planning to blow up shops in Amsterdam.

The suspects, six men and a woman, are Dutch citizens of Moroccan origin.

District Attorney Herman Bolhaar told a news conference: "As far as we can tell, none involved has a history of terrorist involvement." One of those arrested was related to a suspect in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, he added.

Mr Wen said confidence would be necessary to overcome China - and the world's - economic difficulties. "Confidence is more important than gold or money," he said

Opening the NPC session nine days ago, Mr Wen said that this year would be the most difficult China has faced this century. Two days ago, official figures were released showing that Chinese exports plunged by more than a quarter in February from a year ago, to $64.9bn (£47.3bn), and imports fell by 24.1% to $60.1bn.

The government is targeting annual growth of 8% and wants to boost consumption and raise consumer demand.

In a decision that seriously weakened the most high-profile prosecution in Europe involving the seizure of terrorism suspects, Italy’s highest court ruled Wednesday that Italian prosecutors had violated state secrecy in their case against American and Italian intelligence operatives. The decision by the Constitutional Court was a blow to a case of extreme political delicacy between Italy and the United States, in which 25 operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency, an American Air Force colonel and several Italian intelligence officials are charged with the seizure of an Egyptian terrorism suspect in 2003. The Americans are being tried in absentia.

The ruling did not throw out the original indictments, but it deemed inadmissible much of the evidence on which the case had been built, including material seized from Italian and American intelligence operatives.

The suspect, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, an imam known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan in an instance of what has become known as extraordinary rendition, in which terrorism suspects are sent for interrogation to other countries, some of which use torture. Prosecutors contend that the defendants, who include the former head of Italian military intelligence, kidnapped Mr. Nasr, took him to American military bases in Italy and Germany, and eventually to Egypt

When Charles W. Freeman Jr. stepped away Tuesday from an appointment to chair the National Intelligence Council -- which oversees the production of reports that represent the view of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies -- he decried in an e-mail "the barrage of libelous distortions of my record [that] would not cease upon my entry into office," and he was blunt about whom he considers responsible. "The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East," Freeman wrote. Referring to what he called "the Israel Lobby," he added: "The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views." One result of this, he said, is "the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics."

Only a few Jewish organizations came out publicly against Freeman's appointment, but a handful of pro-Israeli bloggers and employees of other organizations worked behind the scenes to raise concerns with members of Congress, their staffs and the media. For example, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), often described as the most influential pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, "took no position on this matter and did not lobby the Hill on it," spokesman Josh Block said. But Block responded to reporters' questions and provided critical material about Freeman, albeit always on background, meaning his comments could not be attributed to him, according to three journalists who spoke to him. Asked about this yesterday, Block replied: "As is the case with many, many issues every day, when there is general media interest in a subject, I often provide publicly available information to journalists on background."

Yesterday, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which tried to derail Freeman's appointment, applauded his withdrawal. But it added: "We think Israel and any presumed 'lobby' had far less effect on the outcome than the common-sensical belief that the person who is the gatekeeper of intelligence information for the President of the United States should be unencumbered by payments from foreign governments."

Chinese exports plunged by more than a quarter in February from a year ago as the world's third-largest economy was hit by a drop in demand for its goods. Exports dropped by 25.7% to $64.9bn (£47.3bn) compared with the same month a year earlier, while imports fell by 24.1% to $60.1bn, figures showed. The country's trade surplus stood at $4.8bn in February, compared with $39.1bn the month before.

The drop in demand overseas has already caused a wave of factory closures and increased unemployment. These latest figures will increase pressure on the Chinese government to implement its stimulus package to boost domestic demand, analysts said.

Rival Palestinian factions are to meet in Cairo, at the start of a process they hope will pave the way for a national unity government.

Divisions between the two main groups - Fatah and Hamas - are making rebuilding Gaza in the aftermath of Israel's military campaign there more difficult. While internationals donors have pledged billions of dollars to the reconstruction of Gaza, they are not willing to deal directly with Hamas, which is widely viewed as a terrorist organisation.

On Saturday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigned ahead the power-sharing talks, a move that is intended to pave the way for the formation of a national unity government.