Voting begins in a general election in Japan, with conservative former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expected to return to power.

The body of the nurse who apparently killed herself after a hoax phone call about the Duchess of Cambridge is due in India for her funeral.

The number of those killed by Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines earlier this month passes 1,000.

Venezuelans are due to vote for state governors and mayors as President Chavez recovers from cancer surgery, in a fresh test of his popularity.

Votes are being counted in the first round of Egypt's controversial referendum on a new constitution, amid a high turnout and isolated incidents of violence.

South Africa's governing ANC begins a five-day party congress, where it will choose whether to replace President Jacob Zuma as its leader.

Three suspected Taliban and a policeman are killed in a shoot-out in Peshawar, officials say, a day after an attack on the city's airport.

A Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus has been attacked, activists say, causing an unknown number of casualties.