President George Bush is to recommend that Deputy Defence Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to take over as head of the World Bank, a senior administration official said today.

Authorities in Indonesia have discovered 4,000 new bodies, bringing the death toll from the tsunami in Asia and Africa to nearly 150,000, while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan toured Sumatra island to witness the devastation and the massive relief effort.

LEADERS from countries devastated by the St Stephen's Day tsunami and major donor nations are gearing up for a major conference tomorrow to iron out problems in coordinating an unprecedented €1.5 billion global relief operation.