World Highlights

¤ Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he planned to impose permanent Israeli borders by 2010 through pullouts from parts of the occupied West Bank, unless Hamas recognised the Jewish state and renounced violence.

¤ Iraq's president agreed to delay a first session of the new Parliament by a week beyond a Constitutional deadline to March 19 in response to a request from the ruling Shi'ite Alliance, a Presidential spokesman said.

Iraqi security forces, not US troops, should be the ones to try to deal with any civil war in Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

¤ Bird flu in Africa is more likely to spread through poultry than migrating wild birds, experts said, as the deadly H5N1 form of the virus was found in more chickens in Nigeria.

¤ Japan's Central Bank scrapped its super-loose monetary policy but, reflecting concerns about fallout for world markets and the domestic economy, said it will keep short-term interest rates around zero for now.

¤ Milan prosecutors rejected a move to delay a corruption case involving Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell until after Italian elections, a judicial source said.

¤ Venezuela derided a US State Department report that said President Hugo Chavez's government had violated human rights, calling the document "toilet paper".

¤ Two colonels and six special forces soldiers are being held and questioned over an alleged conspiracy to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, army officials said.

¤ Nigerian militants killed four soldiers and one policeman in an unsuccessful attempt to capture a fuel tanker in the southern delta, military officials said.

¤ Protesters trying to oust Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra marched on the Singapore embassy demanding the city state scrap its $1.9 billion telecoms purchase of the business empire he founded.

¤ Two bombs exploded near highways in northern Spain yesterday after a warning that five devices had been planted by Basque separatists ETA, who have stepped up their violent campaign for independence in recent weeks.