Israel has accused Iran of being behind three blasts in Bangkok that injured five people and blew off the legs of the alleged bomber - an Iranian national who was fleeing police when the grenade slipped through his hands and detonated next to him.

The blasts came just a day after bombs targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia, and has again escalated tensions between the two countries.

Ahmed Abdo was still asleep in his hut at the gate of the Aqua-Sun beach resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast when 20 masked men carrying guns burst in.

Abdo, 30, and his two colleagues were tied up, their mobile phones taken. The intruders, members of the Bedouin Tarabeen tribe, demanded money - 4m Egyptian pounds (£420,000) - from the owner in compensation for the land on which the resort was built. It belonged, they said, to the Tarabeen.

The Libyan capital, Tripoli, is tense this week as the country prepares to mark the anniversary of its 17 February revolution, amid claims by a son of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi that an uprising is imminent.

Saadi Gaddafi, who fled Libya for exile in Niger, was quoted at the weekend saying that a loyalist uprising will happen "everywhere in the country".

His comments have added to an already febrile situation in a country where the governing National Transitional Council (NTC) has failed to exert control over Libya's disparate militias.

Leaders of China and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday underscored the importance of beefing up economic and trade cooperation in the context of the stagnant world economy.

The call came from the 14th China-EU summit in Beijing, which was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"It is currently the most urgent task for China and the EU to enhance economic and trade cooperation," Wen said at a press conference after the summit, during which he raised a five-point proposal to the EU side in this respect.

Syria's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday totally rejected the report by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), regarding it as "new allegations."

"The HRC has turned into a tool in the hands of the countries that are targeting Syria and ignoring the terrorist acts carried out by the armed groups," the ministry said in a statement carried by state-run SANA news agency.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will unveil "some nuclear achievements" on Wednesday, Iran's presidential website announced on Tuesday.

"In the presence of the president, some new and worthwhile achievements of the country's nuclear scientists in the field of atomic energy will be unveiled" on Wednesday, the announcement said.

"The disclose of these achievements will display the extraordinary capability of Iranian young scientists and their nuclear knowledge to the world," the website said.

President Barack Obama assured China's heir apparent leader that the United States welcomes Beijing's rise in the world, saying Tuesday that strong cooperation between the two powers is good for the rest of the world.

Obama offered a warm welcome to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping amid sharp policy differences over Syria, Iran and economic issues, as well as longstanding U.S. concerns over Chinese human rights practices.

Obama aides said those issues would be on the table during Xi's unusually long and high-level visit to the United States, but there was no sign of discord during a brief joint appearance between Obama and Xi following their first-ever meeting.