Britain Britain's Prince Charles and his longtime companion Camilla Parker Bowles are to marry, the prince's office announced, putting an official seal on a relationship that first blossomed three decades ago. Vatican Pope John Paul II, who the Vatican said would be discharged from hospital on Thursday, will travel to Germany as planned for the World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne next August, said WYD spokesman Matthias Kopp. NKorea 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. 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. Mideast Three more mortar shells were fired by Palestinian militants at a settlement in the Gaza Strip in another act of defiance against a new ceasefire pledge, Israeli military sources said. Saudi 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. 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. 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. ICoast The United Nations expressed concern at mounting tensions between militia groups in Ivory Coast, urging the swift disarmament of insurgencies 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.