Iraq is on the verge of deeper disaster, and the violence that kills hundreds of people every week will only get worse in the months ahead, the country’s first post-Saddam prime minister said on Monday.

The American embassy in Khartoum denied Monday allegations by Sudanese officials that the US was involved in an alleged plot to destabilise the government.

Israel plans to release 250 Palestinian prisoners by the end of the week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the two leaders met in Jerusalem on Monday.