US The United States shrugged off a North Korean warning of its nuclear weapon capability and ruled out any new incentives to woo back the Stalinist state to multilateral talks designed to end its nuclear weapons program. 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. Vatican A tired but alert Pope John Paul II left hospital aboard his popemobile giving delighted pilgrims a sight they thought they would never see again following his discharge after nine days in hospital. 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. Iraq US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived on an unannounced visit to this turbulent city to personally praise US and Iraqi troops for their performance in the January 30 elections. Togo Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo cancelled a planned visit to Togo and warned of sanctions against its fledgling regime after Togolese authorities refused to allow a plane carrying his advance party to land, the Nigerian leader's spokeswoman said. 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. Iran EU-Iranian talks focused on persuading Iran to give guarantees it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons have been extended until Friday, diplomats said, as European leaders hinted progress was being made. Argentina Hundreds of rioting inmates in the Argentine province of Cordoba took some 25 prison guards hostage, including the high security prison's chief, while three inmates died in a jail-break attempt, according to officials and media. Pakistan At least 25 people were killed after a dam burst and washed away a number of villages in southwestern Pakistan, an official said. Philippines More troops were rushed to the remote southern Philippines island of Jolo to quell a Muslim revolt, as third parties sought to broker a truce after four days of fighting that left more than 80 people dead, officials said.