US New Orleans showed the first rays of recovery from Hurricane Katrina as engineers pumped water out of the corpse-littered city to clear the way for months of cleanup operations. Saudi Saudi security forces stormed a hideout of suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the eastern city of Dammam after three days of intense clashes that have killed five suspects and two police, a security source said. Iraq Iraqi MPs debated behind closed doors a sweeping anti-terror bill that envisages making even crimes such as vandalism subject to the death penalty in order to quell the raging insurgency. Iraq A UN official warned that delays in finalising Iraq's draft constitution could result in some Iraqis not receiving a copy of the text by the October 15 national referendum on the charter. Japan A powerful typhoon cut across Japan, leaving at least 21 dead or missing and injuring 45, as 100,000 people were ordered to flee their homes, officials and media reports said. Egypt At least 32 people died in a fire in an Egyptian theatre apparently set off by lighted candles used on stage. Egypt With the battle to keep his throne all but won, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's main struggle on the eve of Wednesday's landmark election was to secure a strong enough turnout to legitimise his victory. Indonesia Investigators hunted for clues in the wreckage of a jetliner which crashed in north Indonesia and killed 150 people, as questions were raised about safety standards of low-cost carriers. Ukraine Greenpeace and the affected nation of Belarus cast doubt on predictions of a relatively low death toll from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, as UN experts opened a meeting in Vienna. OECD The current oil "shock" throughout the world is of major proportions and there is no sign of the oil price rise coming to an end, the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Jean-Philippe Cotis said. Ukraine Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko faced a major political crisis, after a former aide accused several close associates of the "orange revolution" leader of massive corruption.