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.

The White House has moved to ease some travel and trade restrictions as a cautious first step towards better ties with Havana, raising hopes of an eventual lifting of the four-decade-old economic embargo.

The administration has moved to ease draconian travel controls and lift limits on cash remittances that Cuban-Americans can send to the island, a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of families.

The legislation would allow Americans with immediate family in Cuba to visit annually, instead of once every three years, and broaden the definition of immediate family. It would also drop a requirement that Havana pay cash in advance for US food imports.

Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi has been released from prison, his family say.

Mr Turabi was imprisoned two months ago after calling on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to surrender to the International Criminal Court.

As leader of the National Islamic Front and speaker of the Sudanese parliament, Hassan al-Turabi was a key ally of President Bashir until they split in a power struggle 10 years ago.

The criticism came after Mr Santos said he would not rule out Colombian forces pursuing left-wing Colombian rebels in neighbouring countries.

The Colombian military incursion last year into Ecuador, in which a leading rebel Farc commander was killed, sparked one of the most bitter regional diplomatic rows in many years and led to both Ecuador and Venezuela sending troops to their respective borders with Colombia and a breakdown of diplomatic ties.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has distanced himself from his defence minister's remarks - calling them out of place and imprudent.

Japan's current account recorded its largest deficit on record in January, reaching 172.8bn yen ($1.8bn; £1.2bn). It was its first deficit in 13 years.

Government figures show that exports nearly halved in January, while imports fell by a third.

Car exports alone dropped 66.1%, with semiconductor and electronic parts exports down 52.8%.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il has been unanimously elected to a seat in North Korea's parliament.

State media has claimed a 100% turnout in Sunday's elections for the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly.

Voting, which was compulsory, was for just one pre-approved candidate in each constituency.

Coalition forces in Afghanistan are not winning in large parts of the south, the commander of Nato and US forces there has said.

The US has said it will deploy up to 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.

In an interview with the BBC's Today programme, Gen McKiernan said there were areas in the north, east and west where "coalition efforts in support of the government of Afghanistan [are] winning". "But there are other areas - large areas in the southern part of Afghanistan especially, but in parts of the east - where we are not winning," he said.

the American vessel USNS Impeccable was attempting to defend itself against what the Pentagon claimed was co-ordinated harassment and aggression from five Chinese ships. Being unarmed, the Impeccable turned its fire water hoses against two of the Chinese vessels that had come within 50 feet in a threatening posture.Then, the Pentagon records in the admirably restrained language of international diplomacy, "the Chinese crew members disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

The Dalai Lama has launched a fierce attack on Chinese rule in his Tibetan homeland, describing its people's lives as "hell on Earth".

Thousands of Chinese troops and paramilitary police are said to have been deployed in Tibetan-populated regions amid fears of fresh violence on the sensitive anniversary.

"We Tibetans are looking for legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People's Republic of China," the exiled leader said.

The state funeral is due to take place former President of Guinea Bissau, Joao Bernardo Vieira. He was assassinated a week ago by soldiers, just hours after the head of the country's military was killed in a bomb attack. The West African state has long been unstable and has been made increasingly fragile owing to the fact that it has become a major drug trafficking hub. The country has remained relatively calm since the murders.

An investigation was promised but it has been slow to start. The fact that the bloodstained home of the former president was not even cordoned off does not exactly point to a serious inquiry.

Meanwhile civil society groups have warned that some politicians are encouraging the military to take over power.

US President Barack Obama has lifted restrictions on federal funding for research on new stem cell lines. Mr Obama signed an executive order in a major reversal of US policy, pledging to "vigorously support" new research.

Analysts say Mr Obama's decision could also lead Congress to overturn a ban on spending tax dollars to create embryos.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has ordered the expulsion of a US diplomat he accused last week of colluding with opposition groups in recent unrest.

President Morales ordered the US ambassador to leave the country six months ago over similar allegations.

Mr Morales publicly accused the US diplomat last week of "co-ordinating contacts" with a Bolivian police officer he accused of infiltrating the state oil company YPFB on behalf of the CIA. The head of YPFB, Morales ally Santos Ramirez, was arrested last month amid corruption allegations.

Chinese consumer prices showed an annual fall in February for the first time since 2002, figures have shown. The consumer price index fell 1.6% from a year earlier, dragged down by falls in food prices but officials downplayed the threat of a deflationary spiral.

China's inflation rate hit a 12-year high of 8.7% in February 2008 because of shortages of grain and pork. Officials said this high base for comparison partly explained February's fall. In the first two months of 2009, prices were down just 0.3% from a year earlier. In the final three months of last year, China's economy expanded by 6.8% from a year earlier - below the 8% that officials view as the level needed to keep unemployment in check and avoid social unrest. Overall growth in 2008 stood at 9% - the first time since 2002 that the economy has expanded at a single-digit pace.

The scientists are concerned that the 2007 reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are already out of date. Their data suggests greater rises in sea levels this century.

this meeting is happening outside the IPCC, so it will have the very latest estimates, and the scientists will not need to agree every word with the political masters. This unfettered atmosphere is likely to produce greater clarity about the scale of some very worrying trends, especially sea level rise. The IPCC was widely criticised for stating that sea level rise this century would only amount to 59cm (23in). The most recent data, to be presented here, will suggest a far higher figure with dramatic implications for many island nations and coastal regions.

his meeting is happening outside the IPCC, so it will have the very latest estimates, and the scientists will not need to agree every word with the political masters. This unfettered atmosphere is likely to produce greater clarity about the scale of some very worrying trends, especially sea level rise. The IPCC was widely criticised for stating that sea level rise this century would only amount to 59cm (23in). The most recent data, to be presented here, will suggest a far higher figure with dramatic implications for many island nations and coastal regions.

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.

The United Nations has laid a foundation stone at the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon to mark the formal start of reconstruction there. The Palestinian refugee camp was destroyed in heavy fighting between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army in 2007.

there is not enough money to rebuild completely, and some of its residents booed as work began.

Only 50m (165 feet) away from the VIP guests, several hundred Palestinian refugees booed from behind barbed wire.

Obama has said the US will work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Europe has pledged to cut them by 20-30% on 1990 levels by 2020. The IPCC says developed nations should aim for 25-40% cuts by then to avoid dangerous climate change.Speaking on the fringes of a high-level scientific conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Pachauri told the Guardian: "He [Obama] is not going to say by 2020 I'm going to reduce emissions by 30%. He'll have a revolution on his hands. He has to do it step by step." Pachauri's remarks echo those of Todd Stern, the US president's new chief climate negotiator, who said last week that it was "not possible" for the US to aim for 25-40% cuts by 2020.

Cuban-Americans will be allowed to travel to the island once a year and send more money to relatives there. Curbs on sending medicines and food have also been eased. The measures were part of a $410bn bill to fund US government operations.

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.

Iran has no weapons-grade uranium, US military officials have said in an attempt to clarify recent statements from Washington and Israel. National Intelligence director Dennis Blair told US senators that Tehran had only low-enriched uranium, which would need processing to be used for weapons.

Mr Blair's comments came a week after Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran had enough "fissile material" to make a bomb. And earlier this week Israel's top intelligence official Amos Yadlin said Iran had "crossed the technological threshold" and was now capable of making a weapon.

Although analysts broadly agreed that Iran had some low-enriched uranium, the enrichment process to produce weapons-grade material would involve technology that the country is not thought to possess, Mr Blair added.