World Highlights

¤ The Czech Republic's main international airport, Prague Ruzyne Airport, reopened for all flights after being partially closed yesterday afternoon following an anonymous bomb threat. Czech Airport Authority spokesman Anna Kovarikova said it was closed for just over an hour to departures as police investigated the threat. Passengers who were waiting for a flight were evacuated from the airport, and some 50 departures were affected before it was reopened at 4.40 p.m.

¤ Talks aimed at resolving the stand-off over who should be Germany's next chancellor have begun well and should lead to a deal over the weekend, a close ally of conservative leader Angela Merkel said yesterday. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, was quoted as saying by a local agency that it was very likely his Social Democrats (SPD) would be able to agree on a power-sharing coalition with the conservatives.

¤ Poland's presidential candidate Donald Tusk kept a small lead on the last day of campaigning before tomorrow's election that pits the pro-business reformer against an advocate of a conservative "moral revolution". Surveys showed yesterdy neither Tusk nor his conservative rival, Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski, is likely to win outright, leading to a run-off ballot on October 23.

¤ UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended yesterday the start of international talks on whether Kosovo should be given independence or remain a part of Serbia, despite the province's uneven progress toward democracy and human rights. Mr Annan made the recommendation in a letter to the 15-nation UN Security Council accompanying a report by his special envoy Kai Eide of Norway.