Indonesia The grim search for survivors continued on the Indonesian island of Nias, but hopes of finding anyone alive under the rubble were fading three days after a huge earthquake killed more than 620 people, according to UN agencies said. Lebanon-Syria US officials reacted cautiously to a new Syrian promise to withdraw its troops from Lebanon before legislative elections scheduled for May, and kept up strong pressure for an immediate Syrian withdrawal. Zimbabwe Voters in Zimbabwe began casting ballots as polls opened in the southern African country for landmark elections that President Robert Mugabe hopes will tighten his ruling party's 25-year grip on power. WorldBank The World Bank appears set to appoint Paul Wolfowitz as its 10th president, but the US deputy defence secretary still has a long way to go to disarm his army of critics. Vatican Pope John Paul II, barely able to make a rasping sound during an appearance at his window overlooking St. Peter's square, is now being fed through a tube in his nose, the Vatican said. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon named seven deputy ministers to the cabinet after enduring a torrent of parliamentary criticism for rewarding loyalists of his Gaza Strip disengagement plan. US A frenzied legal crusade to save the life of a brain-damaged Florida woman appears to have come to an after two top US federal courts -- in back-to-back decisions - rejected pleas to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, making clear their determination to stay clear of end-of-life decisions. Iraq The chaotic breakdown of a key Iraqi parliament meeting raised fears of a delay in drawing up a permanent constitution because of the failure of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to agree on a government. Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan's interim president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, warned ousted leader Askar Akayev not to return to the Central Asian state, saying it could break the fragile calm that finally has taken hold since he fled to Russia. Czech The communist party will decide whether to save the government of Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross after he was abandoned by his Christian-Democrats coalition partner over a personal financial scandal. Pakistan Pakistani security agencies have arrested six suspected Al-Qaeda-linked foreigners in a swoop on their hideout near the Afghan border, officials said.