Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline defies US
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are inaugurating a controversial gas pipeline linking the two neighbours. The US has warned that the project could incur sanctions connected with Iran's nuclear programme. The long-delayed pipeline is seen in Pakistan as a way of alleviating the country's chronic energy shortages. The work on the Iranian side is almost complete. Monday marks the start of construction in Pakistan.A total of 780km (485 miles) of pipeline is due to be built in the country over the next two years.
Sweden Princess Lilian dies aged 97
Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose romance with husband Prince Bertil became one of Sweden's best-known love stories, has died at the age of 97. Welsh-born Lilian met Prince Bertil in London during World War II. However, they faced objections to their relationship because of the prince's obligations to the throne and Lilian's status as a divorced commoner. They had to wait until 1976 to get married. In 2010, it was announced she had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Princess Lilian was born Lilian Davies in Swansea in August 1915 and moved to London aged 16 to follow a modelling career. She was married to actor Ivan Craig when she met Prince Bertil in London in 1943.
US-South Korea drills begin amid North Korea tensions
The US and South Korea have begun annual military drills amid high tensions with North Korea in the wake of a UN sanctions vote. Pyongyang has strongly condemned the exercises, threatening to scrap the armistice that ended the Korean War. Seoul says North Korea also appears to have carried out a threat made last week to sever a cross-border hotline. The drills come days after the UN approved new sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear test in February. The test last month was the communist country's third. It followed an apparently successful launch in December of a three-stage rocket, seen as a banned test of missile technology.