Asia US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Asia's tsunamis had been more devastating than any disaster he had ever seen while Australia and Germany pledged a massive 1.4 billion dollars in aid. Asia The United Nations said aid pledged after the Asian tsunami disaster was now between three and four billion US dollars. Asia Germany became the biggest European donor to the Asian tsunami disaster as Europe fell silent to remember the victims of the raging waters which could include thousands of its citizens. Asia The UN's health agency warned that 150,000 people in areas devastated by the deadly tsunamis were at "extreme risk" of a major disease outbreak unless they receive clean water supplies by the end of the week. Iraq Three suicide bombings and a spate of ambushes and shootings rocked Iraq leaving at least 48 people dead in 24 hours, including the three bombers, security sources said. Mideast Palestinian militants defied appeals by presidential election favourite Mahmud Abbas to stop firing rockets into Israel as they hit an army base in a new strike launched from the Gaza Strip. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon secured the working majority needed to implement his Gaza pullout plan when the small ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party agreed to join a new coalition. Chile Chile's ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet was officially put under house arrest at his ranch, after the Supreme Court upheld his indictment on murder and kidnapping charges stemming from abuses during his 1973-1990 rule. Nepal Nepalese troops killed at least 130 Maoist rebels in fierce jungle fighting in the remote southwest of the Himalayan kingdom, the army said. IAEA Ending a lengthy standoff, UN inspectors are to visit an Iranian facility where the United States claims Tehran is simulating testing of atomic weapons, UN atomic energy chief Mohamed ElBaradei said. Ukraine Ukraine's supreme court said it would review the first of an expected two appeals over a rerun presidential vote, as the defeated candidate pressed on with an admittedly hopeless campaign against his loss to Viktor Yushchenko. Media 2004 was the deadliest year in a decade for journalists around the world, mainly because of the number of reporters killed in Iraq, the media rights group Reporters Without Borders said.