Pakistan is on red alert today for extreme flooding in its rich agricultural south.

TO a sea of Albanian and American flags, Prime Minister Hasim Thaci called the republic of Kosovo into being last Sunday week, setting off a diplomatic firestorm, raising Russian- backed Serbian ire and sparking fears that minority ethnic groups from Spain to China would have a new basis for resistance.

Beyonce Knowles has been given permission to put on her raunchiest show when she takes to the stage in Muslim Indonesia next month.

As world leaders gathered today to co-ordinate more than €2.8bn in tsunami relief, doctors warned of a looming catastrophe from ever-more serious health crises – gangrenous wounds that require limb amputations, scores of children with diarrhoea, pneumonia caused by exposure to dirty water.

Beer-lovers in predominantly Muslim Indonesia will find Heineken cheaper and more widely available as part of a deal to have the Dutch brew produced locally.