...peace talks in two weeks' time. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the leaders of both sides had been invited to meet in Washington with the aim of achieving lasting peace within a year. She urged both sides to be patient.
"The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region."
Here with his assessment of the announcement is James Reynolds in Washington.
The ambition is simple, and to many it's also staggering. Hillary Clinton aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by September next year - not improve it, not get things back on track, but resolve it for good. So at the start of next month, the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders will fly to Washington. They will attend an eve of summit meeting along with President Obama, President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan.
The Pakistan government says the southern province of Sindh is now the worst-hit by devastating floods with 2.5 million people affected. New warnings have been issued, and villagers have been evacuated. The World Health Organization says health threats are increasing with cases of diarrhea and malaria up sharply. Altogether at least six million Pakistanis are homeless, and 1/5 of the country remains submerged.
Voting has started in the Australian general election. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be the tightest in years with a hung parliament a distinct possibility. The governing Labor Party has been hoping to win a second term on the basis of its handling of the economy and faces a tough battle with opposition conservatives. Here is Nick Bryant on the leaders of the two parties.
Julia Gillard enjoyed a brief political honeymoon when she became Australia's first female prime minister two months ago. The thinking behind calling a snap election was that it would last until polling day. But that hasn't happened, and Australia has ended up with a photo-finish election. The leader of the conservative Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, claims he will bring back a grown-up government and end what he calls the "national soap opera". He is referring to the bloodletting in the ruling Labor Party that's given the campaign its main and sometimes bizarre narrative.
Afghan police say up to 30 people were killed in Helmand province when Taliban insurgents attacked a road construction gang. There are few details, but a spokesman for the construction company said a fierce battle had lasted several hours after the site was attacked with rockets and machine-gun fire.
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