Britain Britain's Prince Charles and his longtime companion Camilla Parker Bowles are to marry, his office announced, putting the official seal on a relationship that first blossomed 35 years ago and helped wreck his marriage to the late Princess Diana. North Korea North Korea said it had developed nuclear weapons to protect itself against a US attack and would indefinitely boycott multilateral talks aimed at dismantling its atomic programs. Vatican Doctors gave Pope John Paul II the all-clear to leave hospital, the Vatican announced, 10 days after he was rushed to a Rome clinic with severe respiratory problems linked to the flu. Iran Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned that any invader would be greeted by a "burning hell" as tens of thousands of Iranians braved snow blizzards to join rallies for the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Saudi Arabia Saudi men went to the polls in the first round of municipal elections, the first ever nationwide ballot in the ultra-conservative kingdom billed as a step toward reform but barred to women. Mideast Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas sacked three top security chiefs after their failure to stop mortar attacks on settlements in Gaza, carried out in defiance of a new ceasefire agreement. NATO NATO announced a long-awaited expansion of its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a move strongly pressed for by Washington as it seeks to reduce pressure on stretched US troops worldwide. Iraq Iraq saw a violent start to the Islamic new year marked by police finding more than 20 rotting bodies in an ambushed convoy, by a car bomb and attacks which claimed at least another 10 lives. Iran EU and Iranian officials held a third day of talks on Tehran's nuclear programme, as a senior EU minister said that the negotiations were moving forward but warned Iran to take the issue seriously. Nepal Nepalese authorities freed seven political leaders detained when the king seized power last week but arrested 10 human rights activists staging an anti-monarchy rally, state radio and witnesses said. Ivory Coast The United Nations expressed concern at mounting tensions between militia groups in Ivory Coast, urging the swift disarmament of movements whose presence has compounded the destabilization of the west African state. Philippines Artillery and aircraft pounded Muslim rebels on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, the military said, on the fourth day of fighting that has caused more than 100 casualties.