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A CSIRO report has warned climate change will threaten the region's economy and security unless governments and aid agencies start preparing for its impacts.
The two-part CSIRO report was commissioned by a new coalition of aid, church and development groups.
It warns that a two degrees Celsius increase in temperature by 2030 will have a devastating impact in northern Pakistan, India and western China.
US and Iraqi forces killed at least 30 Shiite militiamen during a fierce street battle in the southern city of Diwaniyah.
Iran has urged world powers against using the "language of threats" over its nuclear program as UN Security Council diplomats prepared to draft a resolution proposing sanctions against Tehran.
Saddam Hussein's defence team will continue to boycott his trial on charges of genocide against Iraq's Kurdish minority when it resumes this week, his lead Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi says.
Fierce clashes erupted between Shiite militiamen and US forces in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, the military says, leaving at least 20 militiamen dead.
A Palestinian militant has been killed by Israeli soldiers who were staging an incursion into the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank.
The streets of the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk were deserted as security forces conducted a house-to-house sweep and arrested at least 150 suspected insurgents.
The United States, following crunch talks in London, geared up for a week of tough negotiations with other world powers over a draft United Nations (UN) resolution to impose sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has appealed to United Nations chief Kofi Annan to put pressure on Israel to stop its warplanes from overflying Lebanon and withdraw from a village, his office says.
A suicide truck bomber attacked an Iraqi army observation post in the northern town of Tall Afar, killing four troops and four bystanders, police say.
A senior Republican Senator in the United States has returned from Iraq with a bleak warning about the situation there.
A sailor in the United States Navy has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the murder of an Iraqi civilian by a squad of American marines.
Swiss researchers have discovered the 100,000-year-old remains of a previously unknown giant camel species in central Syria.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has urged President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks on forming a national unity coalition after Mr Abbas threatened to dissolve the Hamas-led Government.
A US Navy medic has admitted taking part in the kidnap of an Iraqi civilian killed by his squad and says the murder was prompted by his patrol leader's anger at the release of a suspected "terrorist" from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
The six world powers seeking to defuse the Iranian nuclear crisis have strengthened pressure on the Islamic state, agreeing to discuss sanctions and lamenting Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
The six powers gathering in London to discuss Iran's nuclear program are not expected to make a decision on imposing sanctions against Tehran on Friday, as the US Secretary of State's arrival has been delayed.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have rallied in Gaza City in support of a Hamas-led government engulfed by a fiscal and political crisis and battling an international boycott.
The ruling Hamas movement accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of dodging efforts to create a national unity government, which is billed as a means to end an ever deepening political crisis.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged Iraqi leaders to live up to their promises to halt the brutal wave of violence engulfing their country, on a surprise visit to Baghdad.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the West to solve a nuclear standoff through talks but reiterated that Iran would not give up its atomic plans.
US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice flew into Baghdad for a previously unannounced visit, Iraqi officials say.
US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice has failed to secure any firm agreement from Israel to ease its restrictions on the economically devastated Palestinian territories.
Belgian police have arrested an Iranian who said he was involved in a plot to bomb a passenger plane in Belgium.
The US military has denied reports that it has killed Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pledged during her trip to the Middle East to redouble American efforts to help the Palestinian people.
The US military says bomb attacks in Baghdad have hit an all-time high.
The US Army says Iraq has demobilised an entire Baghdad police brigade accused of complicity with sectarian death squads.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana says Iran has not agreed to suspend its most sensitive nuclear activities, despite four months of intensive talks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he might opt to dissolve the Hamas-led Government after unity talks with the Islamist group broke down.
At least 14 people have been killed and 75 wounded in a car bomb attack in central Baghdad, which Interior Ministry sources say targeted the convoy of Iraq's Industry Minister.
Witnesses say three masked men have shot and killed a Hamas leader as he left a mosque in the West Bank, a day after gunmen from a rival Palestinian faction threatened to kill senior Hamas members.
The United Nations has spelled out the rules of engagement of its peacekeepers enforcing a truce in south Lebanon, which had been under Hezbollah control until the July-August war with Israel.
An Israeli air strike in northern Gaza has wounded five Palestinian militants, Palestinian medics and witnesses say.
The United States says the international community will have to impose sanctions if Iran does not halt sensitive atomic work.
Another six US soldiers have been killed in a series of incidents in Baghdad and western Iraq, the US military says.
Fatah gunmen have threatened to kill leaders of the governing Hamas group, escalating a power struggle marked by the worst internal Palestinian violence since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994.
Iran has proposed France create a consortium to enrich uranium for Tehran's nuclear program in an effort to end the stand-off over the Islamic state's atomic ambitions.
Iraq's prime minister announced a broad plan to halt militia killings, as mass kidnaps by men in uniform and dozens of tortured bodies found in Baghdad fuelled fears of all-out sectarian civil war.
Calm has returned to the streets of the Gaza Strip after the Islamist-led Government withdrew interior ministry troops that were engaged in deadly clashes with security forces loyal to the moderate President. | 