World Highlights

¤ US troops fearing a car bomb attack fired on a crowded minivan and killed at least three civilians including a child north of Baghdad.

The US army's 3rd Infantry Division said its troops had opened fire after first trying to wave the minivan to a stop and then firing warning shots.

¤ General Motors Corp. said it would cut 30,000 North American manufacturing jobs and close a dozen plants as it struggles to compete with fast-growing rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp.

The cuts affect about a quarter of the North American factory work force at GM and are the deepest since it eliminated 21 plants and 74,000 jobs over four years beginning in December 1991.

¤ President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing, which ended yesterday, had the trappings of a whistle-stop campaign appearance intended to sell his message that the United States wants China to free up its politics and economy before the two countries can move closer.

But the closely scripted encounter between Mr Bush and his Chinese hosts seemed to retrace, not narrow, the differences, analysts said.

¤ Vice President Dick Cheney denied that the administration was trying to stifle dissent by lashing out at Iraq war critics, but said he drew the line at what he called shameless charges by some Democrats that the president distorted pre-war intelligence.

"This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate," Mr Cheney said.

¤ Almost five million people were infected by HIV globally this year, the highest jump since the first reported case in 1981 and taking the number living with the virus to a record 40.3 million, the United Nations said.

The 4.9 million new infections were fuelled by the epidemic's continuing rampage in sub-Saharan Africa and a spike in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the UNAIDS body said in its annual report.