World Highlights

O The Nigerian armed forces attacked targets in the Niger Delta by helicopter gunship yesterday and militants fired back with rockets, escalating tensions in the volatile oil-producing region. Militants and a community leader said the helicopter targeted ethnic Ijaw communities in the Gbaramatu area of Delta state and this followed a similar attack on Wednesday.

O Two ships sank in high winds in the same stretch of the Taiwan Strait off eastern China, leaving 57 people missing, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. A cargo ship, fully loaded with "aquatic products" and headed for Indonesia, was the first to sink after it struck a reef near coastal Fujian province's Dongjia island at around 11.00 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Thursday, Xinhua said. The ship, sailing under a Panamanian flag, was carrying 37 people. Rescue teams saved four, but 33 people were still missing as of yesterday afternoon, it said.

O Up to 2,000 Kenyans peacefully took to the streets yesterday to demand more resignations of senior government officials linked to corruption scandals that have rocked east Africa's richest country. Also yesterday, Kenya's anti-graft body took a former powerful minister to court and a parliamentary committee returned from a visit to Britain to announce that it has gathered strong evidence implicating senior officials.

O Afghan security forces captured a Taliban commander responsible for a string of attacks in the south of the country after he was wounded in a clash yesterday, police said. Violence has intensified in Afghanistan in recent months, particularly in the south and east, with a wave of roadside and suicide bombings killing dozens of people as Nato members prepare to send thousands more peacekeepers.

O Czech President Vaclav Klaus and his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski yesterday said they both agreed on the need to avoid European unification and said the EU needed a Constitution giving nation states more power. The conservative heads of state from the two new EU nations agreed Europe needed a "foundation" akin to the Constitution, but it would have to be different from the one put on ice after failed referenda in France and the Netherlands last year.