Ten illegal immigrant Indonesians, including two pregnant women, drowned when their boat capsized in rough seas off Malaysia's southern coast, maritime authorities said Thursday.

The bodies of five men and five women and the rickety wooden boat they were travelling in washed ashore earlier in the week, marine police official Mohammad Muhi told Agence France Presse.

Thirty-three people were killed and 24 injured when two inter-city buses collided in Sudan late Wednesday, in one of the country's worst road accidents in years, police said.

The crash between a full-sized passenger bus and a minibus occurred near the small community of El Kamlien, about halfway between Khartoum and Wad Medani.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the most traveled U.S. top diplomat ever, has had her wings clipped by ill-health and will not be able to make any trips for several weeks, a top aide said Wednesday.

"Given her condition, the secretary's doctors have advised that she may not fly for any significant duration in the coming weeks," her closest aide, Philippe Reines said in a statement.

A record number of countries are expected to back a U.N. General Assembly call for a moratorium on capital punishment on Thursday, diplomats said.

The vote held every two years now sees the likes of the United States, Japan, China, Iran and Iraq stuck in a shrinking minority as pressure grows for an end to executions.

Italy's general election, brought forward by Prime Minister Mario Monti's decision to resign, is likely to take place on February 24, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said Wednesday.

February 24 is "the most suitable" date, Napolitano said in a statement, adding that "it is in the interests of the country to avoid prolonging a state of institutional uncertainty."

Catalonia's leader Artur Mas signed a political deal Wednesday that will let him rule the northeastern region while seeking a referendum in 2014 on splitting from the rest of Spain.

Mas's conservative Convergence and Union alliance emerged the winner in November 25 elections after promising a referendum on self-determination, despite fierce opposition from Madrid.

President Barack Obama Wednesday set up a task force to frame "concrete proposals" on ending mass shootings by next month and called for new laws, but denied he had been on "vacation" on gun control.

With trauma still raw after the Connecticut school massacre last week, Obama put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of an inter-agency effort on gun control and mental health, saying America had a "deep obligation" to act.

At least two people died as crowds went on the rampage in the South Sudanese town of Wau on Wednesday, setting buildings on fire and forcing many to seek shelter with U.N. peacekeepers, witnesses said.

"I saw two people dead. One with a large wound in his chest, and one that had been cut into pieces using pangas (machetes)", said local journalist Deng Dimo.

Central African rebels seized a town near the border with Chad on Wednesday, a day after Chadian troops entered the country at Bangui's request to help the army contain the rebel offensive.

The escalating violence drew calls from former colonial power France for a broad national dialogue.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday will appoint Vice President Joe Biden to lead a panel tasked with devising new policies to address gun violence after last week's school massacre, a White House official said.

The official told AFP Obama would formally name Biden to spearhead the interagency panel at a White House event later in the day. The president is not expected to unveil any new policy decisions during the announcement.