Asia Rescuers said that more than 1,000 people are feared to have died when a huge earthquake hit this northwest Indonesian island, triggering tsunami warnings which caused panic across the Indian Ocean. Iraq Iraq's stuttering transition to elected government hit a further setback when Sunni deputies in parliament failed to reach consensus over a nominee for the post of speaker. Kyrgyzstan The ousted leader of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, whose 15-year-old regime was overthrown in a revolution last week, called himself the "sole legitimate president" of the Central Asian country and defiantly refused to step down. Mideast Furious with Israel's planned pullout from occupied Gaza, Jewish settlers vowed to continue their protest on the ground after losing all political chances of scuppering the evacuation. Vatican A frail Pope John Paul II could be hospitalised for a third time in two months amid deepening concerns that he is failing to recover from a recent throat operation, Vatican watchers said. US As the life of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo hung by a thread, her father feared doctors might hasten her death with morphine, while her husband requested an autopsy to be performed after she dies to prove the extent of her incapacitation. Lebanon Pro-Syrian Lebanese premier-designate Omar Karameh is to stand down after failing to form a national unity government, his advisor said, a decision likely to plunge the country into further turmoil. Angola Panic and ignorance abounded in Angola as the war-ravaged country's skeletal medical staff grappled with the worst outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus which has claimed a record toll. Libya A Libyan court announced it will rule in two months whether to consider an appeal from five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor against a death sentence for allegedly infecting children with AIDS.