The world today - August 29

Tropical Storm Irene sent sea water flooding into shoreline communities and destroyed oceanfront homes as it surged across the United States. Photo / AP

Baghdad bombing

Twenty-nine people were killed and 38 wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque, in a strike on a place of worship similar to the one that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war five years ago.

Iraqi parliament member Khalid al-Fahdawi, a Sunni, was among the dead. Although no group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing, but suicide attacks generally are a hallmark of al-Qaeda, which is dominated by Sunnis.

Goodnight, Irene

President Obama has warned that Americans are still at risk from Irene, despite the hurricane being downgraded to a storm as it moves towards Canada.

"I want people to understand that this is not over," he said. "The impacts of this storm will be felt for some time, and the recovery effort will last for weeks or longer."

The storm has killed at least 19 people in eight states and caused extensive damage throughout the east coast.

Lockerbie bomber in coma

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi has been discovered in a coma at his Tripoli home in Libya. Megrahi, who was last seen is public at a pro-Gadaffi rally in July, is reportedly at "death's door'', surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip.

After being freed from a Scottish prison in 2009 on health grounds, there had been calls for Megrahi to be returned to jail in the UK or tried in the US, but rebel leaders have said they do not intend to allow his extradition.

New Japanese boss

Japan's ruling party has elected Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as its new chief, meaning he will almost certainly become the next prime minister and inherit the
challenge of rebuilding from the country's disasters.

He defeated Trade Minister Banri Kaieda on Monday in a run-off election 215-177 after none of the five candidates won a majority in the first round.

DSK update

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been given back his passport after sexual assault charges against him were dropped in New York this week.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who had been tipped as a likely candidate for the Socialist opposition to field in next year's French presidential election, has been confined to New York since May, when hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo accused him of sexual assault.