Mideast Foreign ministers and top officials from 23 nations and six international organisations opened a day-long meeting in London to throw their weight behind Palestinian reforms. Mideast The administration of US President George W. Bush is showing a real "seriousness" about Middle Eastern peace efforts, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said ahead of a key conference in London. Iraq The leading candidate to head Iraq's next government prepared for talks with Kurdish leaders to bolster his position, as the death toll from a suicide car bombing in Hilla rose to 115. Lebanon Lebanon faced an uncertain future after the dramatic resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karameh in the face of mass public protests sparked by the murder two weeks ago of his predecessor Rafiq Hariri. Iran Iran is determined to resume uranium enrichment activities in order to produce nuclear fuel for 20 reactors it plans to build, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said. Burundi Voters in Burundi have overwhelmingly approved a new power-sharing constitution aimed at bringing to a final end an 11-year civil war that has claimed 300,000 lives, election officials said Tuesday. US Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has suggested to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leading US foe in Iraq, that he get involved in attacks inside the United States, a US counter-terrorism official said. Vatican Pope John Paul II has begun therapy to recover his voice following his throat operation, the Vatican said, trying to dispel concern that he may be unable to speak again as spiritual leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics. US The United States in an annual report on human rights combined familiar criticism of China's and Russia's record with harsh accusations of abuses in key Middle East allies, particularly Saudi Arabia. Vatican Pope John Paul II will probably need weeks of therapy to recover his speech following last week's windpipe surgery, an ear, nose and throat expert said in a newspaper interview. Nepal More than 70 Maoists have been killed in a fierce clash with Nepal's army, an official said, as the foreign minister warned the world to accept the king's power grab or watch a communist takeover of the Himalayan country. Malaysia Malaysian officials launched a controversial operation to round up, whip and deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants after the end of a four-month amnesty. US The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, an experimental plane piloted by American adventurer Steve Fossett, took off from an airport here in a bid to make the first solo non-stop flight around the world without refueling.