Baghdad - A blast in southern Iraq killed a US soldier, a statement by the US forces in Iraq said on Monday, while a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, killed two and injured 10, police sources said.

The soldier, who died on Sunday, brings the total number of soldiers who died since the US-led invasion in Iraq to 4,245.

The Baghdad bombing took place in al-Sadr city in the eastern part of Baghdad.

Riga - Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis was due for a make-or-break meeting with President Valdis Zatlers on Monday after the president said he had lost confidence in his prime minister.

The two leaders were due to meet at 4 pm (1400 GMT) following a weekend in which local media speculated that Godmanis could be about to resign.

Jakarta - About 100 Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the US embassy in Jakarta Monday to protest a planned visit this week by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The protestors from the conservative Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia waved placards denouncing Clinton as a "Zionist agent" in reference to Israel.

"Hillary, you're not welcome here," read a poster held by a woman wearing a white headscarf.

London/Paris - British and French nuclear-powered submarines, carrying a total of more than 240 crew members, collided in the Atlantic early this month, the British daily The Sun reported on Monday.

According to the report, the British vessel HMS Vanguard and the French U-boat Triomphant were both submerged at the time and on separate missions in the mid-Atlantic at the time of the incident, on February 3 or 4.

The daily cited a senior British Navy source as saying that, while it was unlikely that the collision could have sparked a nuclear explosion, the potential consequences were "unthinkable."

Warsaw - The Polish zloty hit its lowest point in several years on Monday when it traded at 4.77 against the euro.

The zloty also traded at 3.3 against the Swiss franc and 3.74 against the dollar in what was a historic low point for the currency.

"This should simply be explained by dismal sentiments and a huge aversion to risk," analyst Piotr Poplawski of Bank BGZ told the Puls Biznesu daily. "In this situation, the Polish currency will head in the direction of 5 zlotys against the euro, and I expect that barrier to break next month."

Nairobi - The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other environmental experts Monday called for an urgent transition to a green economy as the best way to pull the world out of global recession in a sustainable manner.

Speaking as an international conference of over 100 environment ministers got underway in Nairobi, Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary General, said that stimulus packages designed to kick start ailing economies should dedicate serious investment to green technologies.