World Highlights

¤ House of Representatives Minority leader Nancy Pelosi backed a call by Democratic Representative John Murtha to start the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the earliest practicable date.

¤ Egyptian police have rounded up almost 600 Muslim Brotherhood activists in the two days before the last stage of legislative elections, in what the opposition group said was an attempt to disrupt its campaign.

¤ Germany, France and Britain will resume nuclear talks with Iran only if it signals it truly wants to dispel international fears about its atomic programme, Germany's new foreign minister said.

¤ A Japan-China-South Korea summit may be cancelled for the first time in six years due to Chinese and Korean anger over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a war shrine, a newspaper said.

¤ The United States and the European Union have agreed to join forces to fight soaring trade in counterfeited goods, which EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said could be worth €360 billion a year.

¤ The US military has secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military unit, the Los Angeles Times reported.