A third of the world's population could be infected with swine flu, expert projections suggest.

Researchers say swine flu has "full pandemic potential", spreading readily between people and is likely to go global in the next six to nine months.

Sri Lankan government forces have shelled a hospital inside the conflict zone killing at least 49 people, Tamil Tiger rebel and hospital sources say.

The rebels said the makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal was hit early in the morning, but a government spokesman denied knowledge of the incident.

Mr Voronin, of the ruling Communist Party, is due to step down as president as he has served the maximum two terms.

He called for reconciliation with opposition parties, after bitter divisions over the recent parliamentary election erupted into street violence.

Pope Benedict XVI has been visiting sites in Jerusalem holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians on the second day of his visit to the Holy Land.

He visited the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, becoming the first pontiff to see the site, and then the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest places.

A US soldier has shot dead five of his colleagues at a base in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Pentagon says.

Two other people were hurt in the shooting and an investigation has begun, a Pentagon official said.

The United Nations has described the situation in northern Sri Lanka as a "bloodbath" after reports of heavy civilian casualties at the weekend.

UN spokesman in Colombo Gordon Weiss said more than 100 children died during the "large-scale killing of civilians".

Pope Benedict XVI has said the suffering of Holocaust victims must never be denied as he visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

"May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten," he said in the midst of survivors.

A court in Iran has heard an appeal from jailed US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, two days earlier than expected.

Ms Saberi's lawyer said it was not clear when a ruling would be announced, but said he was optimistic of a change to the 32-year-old's sentence.

At least 378 people have been killed by fierce shelling from the Sri Lankan army in the past 24 hours, a health official has told the BBC.

The doctor, working in the northern conflict zone, said 1,122 others had been injured - and more bodies were on beaches and by the sides of roads.