Indonesia At least 300 people have been confirmed dead in a huge earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, a statement from the National Coordinating Disaster Relief Agency said Tuesday. Asia A three metre (10-foot) wave smashed into the Indonesian island of Simeuleu, off the coast of Sumatra, causing extensive damage shortly after a massive earthquake, a military official said. Mideast Israel's parliament rejected a referendum bill on the planned Gaza Strip evacuation, removing the last obstacle to the pullout and dealing a severe blow to those staunchly opposed to withdrawal. Japan-France French President Jacques Chirac called for a tax on airline fuel and tickets by the end of the year to fight epidemics in Africa in what could be a test for a more far-reaching tax on financial transactions. Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan's deposed president Askar Akayev accused post-revolutionary leaders of putting their Central Asian state on the road to ruin after parliament confirmed a former opposition figure was now in charge. Taiwan-China China welcomed the first ever delegation from Taiwan's largest opposition party, just days after a quarter million Taiwanese demonstrated against the military threat from the mainland. Iraq Gunmen shot dead a police chief in one of Baghdad's deadliest neighbourhoods as Iraqi politicians pressed on with negotiations over forming a coalition government ahead of a key parliament session. Angola Angola was faced with the worst outbreak ever recorded of a fulminating haemorrhagic fever caused by the Marburg virus as the death toll from the Ebola-like disease climbed to 126, official and hospital sources said. Sudan Sudanese authorities said they had detained 14 people on suspicion of crimes, including rape and murder, committed in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, as the UN Security Council prepared to debate whether to refer war crimes cases to an international tribunal. US The judge in Michael Jackson's child sex trial dealt a devastating blow to the star by ruling that jurors can hear details about five past abuse claims against him.