Sectarian strife remains a great threat despite improving security, Iraqi leaders said at a conference on Wednesday, hours after a powerful roadside bomb exploded not far from where they met in central Baghdad.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday talks on Palestinian statehood must be predicated on the recognition of Israel as “the state of the Jewish people”, a new Israeli condition.

Russia’s main pro-Kremlin party suffered a drop in support in an opinion poll issued on Wednesday, but still seemed set to dominate a December parliamentary election widely seen as a referendum on the rule of President Vladimir Putin.