World News: Arab leaders pledge millions in wake of Tunisian crisis

Wary of the unrest in Tunisia, Arab leaders are expected today to commit to a proposed 1.24 billion programme to boost faltering economies that have propelled crowds into the streets to protest against high unemployment, rising prices and rampant corruption.

The pledge was made in a document that is to be adopted by the economic summit opening today in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

This is "a commitment to provide job opportunities for Arab young people in order to empower them to participate fully in their societies," said the document.

Arab diplomats said Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have promised to pay 312 million each and, after the economic-related unrest in Tunisia, additional pledges are pouring in.

Thamer al-Anni, an Arab League official, said some 186m in additional pledges were made by 11 other member states yesterday.

He said priority would be given to the less developed countries such as Djibouti, Sudan and Yemen.

Weeks of protests over corruption and political repression forced Tunisia's longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country last week.

US welcomes Chinese president

President Barack Obama is granting a lavish welcome to Chinese president Hu Jintao, left, as the world's two top powers look for common ground on economic and security issues.

Hu arrived in Washington for a four-day state visit yesterday.

Vatican letter 'smoking gun'

A 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland's Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police - a disclosure that victims' groups described as "the smoking gun" needed to show that the Church enforced a worldwide culture of covering up crimes by paedophile priests.

The letter documents the Vatican's rejection of a 1996 Irish Church initiative to begin helping police following Ireland's first wave of lawsuits.

Army chief accused of mass rape

An army commander in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been accused of leading the recent mass rape of at least 50 women.

One of the victims, as well as sources quoted in a UN report, all accuse Lt Col Kibibi Mutware of links to New Year's Day rapes in the town of Fizi.

One killed in school blast

A bomb exploded outside a school in north-western Pakistan today, killing at least one person and wounding 14.

The bomb was planted outside the school in a residential area of Peshawar city, police official Sattar Khan said.

Some of the injured were schoolchildren.

Residents urged to flee from floods

Australia: Authorities have told towns people in the south-east to flee homes with three days of supplies today as a surging river threatened another community in the flooding crisis that has devastated the country.

Up to 1500 homes in Kerang, in Victoria state, could be affected if the Lodden River rises any further.

Iraq: A medical official says the death toll in a suicide attack on police recruits in Tikrit has risen to 65.