Iraq Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a deadly car bombing in Baghdad, while Iraqi officials said they had captured a top aide to the Iraq-based leader of the group who sought to disrupt weekend elections. Iran British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after talks with US secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice that top officials in Washington support the use of diplomacy over military action in dealings with Iran. Asia The number of people presumed dead in last month's Asian tsunamis rose to more than 280,000, with Indonesian authorities announcing a further increase in the number of dead and missing. US The US Defense Department has been assigning spy teams to secret missions by special operations forces and other military units since 2003 as part of a broader effort to revive its human intelligence capabilities, defense officials say. UN The United Nations must do everything within its power to ensure that acts of genocide such as the Holocaust do not happen again, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says as the world body holds a special session marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Russia-Ukraine Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko vowed to take historic ties with Russia in a new direction, but on a symbolic first trip to Moscow since taking office he assured President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would nonetheless remain an "eternal" partner. Iran-US-Israel Iran ruled out direct talks with Washington as Israel urged the world to take action against the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, warning it could destablise the Middle East. US Eight druglords in Myanmar were charged in absentia in a US court with operating one of the largest heroin producing and trafficking networks in the world. Indonesia A controversial Japanese military aid mission arrived in Indonesia's disaster-hit Aceh even as civilian groups were taking charge of relief efforts, while a new earthquake sparked a tsunami panic. Vietnam-Thailand Bangkok warned that bird flu could kill up to two million Thais as it announced an emergency plan to combat the disease, while Vietnam also ordered hospitals to prepare for a larger epidemic after recording its ninth bird flu death this year at the weekend.