Iran said on Wednesday it welcomes "constructive" talks with world powers and the United States said Tehran could face "crippling" sanctions if such talks failed to end Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

In an official statement, Iran said it believed discussions could resolve disputes between the Islamic republic and the West, but it said it will press ahead with its work to develop atomic energy.

The global financial crisis is unlikely to deter growing long-term demand for new nuclear power plants, international atomic agency officials said on Sunday, ahead of a conference to discuss the future of atomic power.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials and national and international energy representatives are gathering in Beijing to discuss prospects for atomic power during a global slowdown, climate change and energy worries, and tensions over the nuclear programmes of North Korea and Iran.

A suicide car-bomber attacked a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday killing at least 20 people, police said.

Militant violence and the spread of Pakistani Taliban are raising fears about prospects for nuclear-armed Pakistan, a vital U.S. ally in its to efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka's president made a symbolic visit on Thursday to the town the Tamil Tigers had declared their capital, while an offensive to finish off the separatist rebels resumed after a two-day truce.

Sri Lanka's military has the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) encircled in a 17 square km strip of northeastern coastline, along with tens of thousands of civilians they have forced to stay with them.

Who will emerge as India's next prime minister or kingmaker in coalition discussions? BBC News profiles the main players.

MANMOHAN SINGH

Prime minister since Congress's election victory in 2004. Despite recent ill health - he took weeks off work after his third round of heart surgery this year - Congress have continued to back him as their candidate.

Overfishing will wipe out the breeding population of Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the ocean's largest and fastest predators, in three years unless catches are dramatically reduced, conservation group WWF said on Tuesday.

As European fishing fleets prepare to begin the two-month Mediterranean fishing season on Wednesday, WWF said its analysis showed the bluefin tuna that spawn -- those aged four years and older -- will have disappeared by 2012 at current rates.

India holds the first stage on Thursday of a staggered general election that could see the ruling Congress party returned to power at the head of a weak coalition just as the Asian power suffers an economic slowdown.

The left-of-centre Congress-led alliance is battling for re-election against a grouping led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a third front of regional and communist parties.

Japan's government is finalising plans to provide Pakistan with up to $1 billion in economic aid over the next two years, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

The assistance would consist of yen loans and grant aid, and is aimed at helping poverty-stricken areas that could become breeding grounds for extremists, as well as finance infrastructure, education and job training, the Nikkei said.

Hundreds of mourners gathered Friday for the funeral of nearly 300 people killed in last week's devastating earthquake in central Italy, where the ground still shakes from aftershocks.

Across Italy, flags few at half mast, and the country came to a standstill as the state funeral began at 3pm BdST in the quake-ravaged medieval town of L'Aquila or The Eagle, according to media reports.

Iran declared fresh progress in its nuclear program Thursday, inaugurating its first nuclear fuel production plant and announcing it had tested more advanced equipment for enriching uranium.

The moves, announced a day after the United States and five other powers said they would invite Tehran for talks on in its nuclear program, are likely to revive Western concerns that the Islamic Republic aims to develop nuclear bombs under the cover of a civilian program.

President Obama, by all accounts this last week, has dazzled the Europeans with his charm, cool demeanor and infectious smile and struck a very positive note in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, where he declared in no uncertain terms that "America is not at war with Islam".

Obama's message was in sharp contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush. His declaration at the Turkish parliament earned him instant ovation not only from the Muslims in Turkey but also from moderates throughout the Islamic world.

President Barack Obama flew to Baghdad on Tuesday to meet U.S. military commanders and Iraqi leaders, making his first trip as president after announcing his new strategy to wind down the unpopular six-year-old war.

Obama's visit to Baghdad was shrouded in the secrecy typical of similar trips made by his predecessor George W. Bush. For security reasons the visit was not publicized beforehand and was made known only after Air Force One had touched down at Baghdad International Airport.

A powerful earthquake struck central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 90 people and making up to 50,000 homeless.

"Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety," a somber Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said before the chamber observed a moment of silence.

The United States is ready to take a leading role in tackling climate change, President Barack Obama said on Sunday, receiving a cautious welcome from European hosts at a summit in the Czech capital Prague.

"Together, we must confront climate change by ending the world's dependence on fossil fuels, by tapping the power of new sources of energy like the wind and sun, and calling upon all nations to do their part," Obama said in a speech to the crowd outside the medieval Prague Castle.

Several people have been killed by an explosion at a security post in the heart of Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

Gunshots were heard after what officials described as a suicide bomb attack which killed at least six paramilitary police.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in the city said the explosion struck a police mess tent and was followed by gunfire.

The Sri Lankan military said government troops killed at least 45 Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in fierce battles on Friday in what the government says is its final push into the last rebel-held area.

The campaign to end a war that has lasted 25 years is centered on 21 square km (eight sq miles) along the northeastern coast of the Indian Ocean island, where the army has encircled Tamil Tiger fighters and tens of thousands of civilians.

Nearly 90 percent of people living in Indian Kashmir's summer capital want their troubled and divided state to become an independent country, according to a poll in an Indian newspaper on Monday.

India and Pakistan have fought and argued over the Himalayan region ever since partition in 1947, but 87 percent of people questioned in Srinagar have no allegiance to either side.

Pakistan security forces yesterday overpowered gunmen who stormed a police academy in a spectacular commando-style raid in which eight police recruits and four attackers died.

Hundreds of policemen fanned out across the rooftop of the main building and around the camp near the eastern city of Lahore, cheering and firing into the air in joy after the nearly eight-hour siege, in which dozens were wounded.

Spanish prosecutors may decide this week whether to press ahead with a probe into six former Bush administration officials in connection with the torture of detainees at the US military's Guantanamo Bay prison, court sources said.

The criminal investigation into the officials, who include ex-US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, would likely focus on whether they violated international law by providing a legal justification for the torture.