In Iran 300 has triggered bewilderment and anger. Just off Tehran’s central Haft-e Tir Square, customers cram into a shop selling bootleg DVDs to flip through pirated action and art-house films while an employee keeps a lookout on the street for approaching police.

Multiple suicide bombings struck areas in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, and about 350 Iraqi civilians and six US troops had to be treated for exposure to chlorine gas, the military said today.

The new Hamas-Fatah coalition was to set to clear a final formal hurdle today, approval by the parliament, before taking on the challenge of persuading a sceptical world to end a crippling year-long boycott of the Palestinian government.