World Highlights

¤ Israel's top court yesterday ruled that the army can demolish the synagogues of evacuated Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, clearing a last hurdle to withdrawing from the occupied territory. Rejecting a last-gasp appeal by leading rabbis, the High Court of Justice accepted government arguments that leaving the 25 houses of worship intact would expose them to possible desecration by Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded a boy as the two approached a demolished Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Later yesterday, Palestinian militants freed the son of slain ex-security chief Moussa Arafat after kidnapping him and shooting dead his father in a raid on his home, a source close to negotiations with the captors said.

¤ One woman died and more than a dozen people were hospitalised yesterday after they fled a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight before take off in a bomb scare Sri Lankan police suspect was triggered by a hoax call. Hospital officials said they believed the woman who died had suffered a fracture and subsequent shock, while other passengers had suspected fractures after jumping out of emergency exits in panic as the plane sat on the tarmac at Colombo's international airport.

¤ At least 25 Indian soldiers drowned in the fast-moving Sutlej river in the northern Himachal Pradesh state yesterday after falling from a temporary bridge, an army spokesman said. The accident took place in a remote and mountainous area in the state's Kinnaur district near India's border with Tibet where dozens of soldiers were assigned to repair bridges damaged by flash floods in June.

¤ The Vatican is negotiating with Turkey about a trip there in November by Pope Benedict, who in the past has opposed Ankara's EU membership bid, a leading cardinal said yesterday. "The Holy Father hopes that he can go but now we are in talks with the government of Ankara because we have to agree about some things," Cardinal Walter Kasper told reporters on the sidelines of a Vatican news conference.

¤ Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened as it hovered off Florida's Atlantic Coast yesterday and stymied attempts to predict its eventual destination. Ophelia had top winds of 60 95 kph, up from 80 kph a day earlier, and could grow into a weak hurricane, with winds of at least 118 kph by tomorrow, the National Hurricane Centre said.