SAsia Rescuers were struggling to reach cold and traumatised earthquake survivors cut off in the mountains of northeast Pakistan, as the authorities warned the death toll could reach 40,000. Quake The United States pledged up to 50 million dollars (41 million euros) in initial assistance in response to the South Asian earthquake, adding to the aid flooding in from around the world. CentrAm The official death toll from massive floods ravaging Central America and Mexico has surged to 763 as hundreds more were feared dead in Guatemala, after mudslides swallowed two small towns in the country's west. Germany Conservative leader Angela Merkel will be announced as German chancellor after a deal hammered out between her Christian Democrats and Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, public television said. Health Authorities in northwestern Turkey slaughtered hundreds of birds overnight after avian flu was detected in the region, although the health ministry assured humans they had nothing to fear. Iraq Last minute talks on how to win Sunni Arab support for the Iraqi constitution hummed in Baghdad as the country prepared to vote on the charter amid continuing violence. Afghanistan A prominent former mujahedin commander allied to the government and at least one other person were killed in a bomb blast in volatile southern Afghanistan, government officials said. Sudan Most of the 38 African Union peacekeepers taken hostage by rebels in Sudan's troubled Darfur region were released, an AU official said, as the mission's commander visited the area. Morocco Morocco was to start airlifting home more than 1,000 migrants who had been trying to reach Europe via the north African country, an interior ministry source said. WTO A proposal by the United States to slash farm subsidies put new impetus into a meeting of leading World Trade Organisation countries here to break deadlock over trade liberalisation talks before a December deadline.