Egyptian demonstrators fought security forces into the early hours of January 28 in the city of Suez, and the Internet was blocked ahead of the biggest protests yet planned against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

A car bomb has ripped through a funeral tent in a mainly Shia Muslim area of Baghdad, killing 48 people.

The UN Headquarters closed on Thursday as another winter storm moved through its seat of New York and other areas in the northeast region of the United States.

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a new tax to help pay for devastating floods that she says will cost A$5.6bn ($5.6bn; £3.5bn) in reconstruction.

Thousands of Yemenis are demonstrating in the capital Sanaa, calling on Ali Abdullah Saleh, President for more than 30 years, to step down.

More efforts were needed in the United States to spur job creation and bolster a sustained economic growth despite nascent recovery signs, as the world's largest economy was competing with other countries in a changing world, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The Russian Federation Council, or the upper house of parliament, approved the new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) with the United States on Wednesday.

Iran on Wednesday reopened its border with Pakistan, which was closed after two suicide attacks in an Iranian border city, blamed on Pakistan-based anti-Iran group, officials said.

About 700 people have been arrested throughout Egypt in a crackdown against anti-government protests, security officials say.

Tunisia's interim government will be reshuffled on January 25, ministers said after protesters demanding a purge of former regime loyalists clashed with fellow Tunisians urging an end to the demonstrations.