World Highlights

¤ German political rivals Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schroeder yesterday failed to agree on who should run the government after inconclusive elections, but vowed more talks to break a potentially damaging deadlock. With the future of Europe's largest economy at stake, conservative leader Merkel and incumbent Chancellor Schroeder held exploratory talks for the first time since Sunday's vote.

¤ Parliament yesterday approved Yuri Yekhanurov as Ukraine's new Prime Minister, pulling the country back from the brink of crisis after less than a year of liberal government. The middle-of-the road Mr Yekhanurov replaced Yulia Tymoshenko, who stood alongside President Viktor Yushchenko in last year's "Orange Revolution" protests, but was sacked as Prime Minister in September after months of infighting split the government.

¤ At least six people died in floods which hit southeastern Romania yesterday, damaging hundreds of homes and disrupting traffic on the Black Sea shore towards Bulgaria, state agency Rompres reported. Torrential rains have swept across the Balkans for most of the summer, killing dozens of people in Romania and its neighbour Bulgaria and causing hundreds of millions of euros in damage to houses, road bridges and crops.

¤ Israel yesterday dismantled its last military base in a pocket of the northern West Bank where it had evacuated four small settlements, completing the final stage of a "disengagement" plan. Hours before the Dotan base was evacuated, soldiers shot dead an unarmed Palestinian man they said entered the installation and ignored their instructions to halt.