Pakistan Pakistan will host a conference next month to raise money to rebuild earthquake-hit areas, the United Nations announced after raising its appeal for emergency relief to more than half a billion dollars. Iran Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad openly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and lashed out at Muslim nations that recognise the Jewish state. China China mobilized roadside sterilization stations and inspected markets in stepped-up measures to tackle bird flu after the third outbreak in a week. France Preliminary tests on a man hospitalised on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean indicate he may have contracted bird flu, authorities said. Mideast Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas told militants to "stop giving Israel excuses" to carry out attacks after it announced a zero tolerance policy and launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip. Iraq Lawyers representing Saddam Hussein announced that they will boycott the special tribunal trying the ousted Iraqi president until they are given better security. Germany Four men linked to Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, hurled abuse at a German court as they were convicted and jailed for planning attacks against Jewish interests in Germany. EU Prime Minister Tony Blair confronted European lawmakers hostile to the British presidency's handling of key issues facing the bloc on the eve of a summit of EU leaders. Cambodia A former Khmer Rouge commander convicted of the 1994 murders of three Western backpackers but on the run since February was jailed a day after his capture, officials said. India Paramilitary troops shot a man dead in a scuffle near a voting booth as security swarmed polling points in state assembly elections in the lawless Indian state of Bihar, police said. China Up to 10 children were killed and 45 were injured when students yelling "ghost" sparked a stampede on a darkened elementary school staircase in China's Sichuan province, officials and reports said.