World Highlights

¤ A bomb targeting Sunni Muslims killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens in the Pakistani city of Karachi yesterday as they gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Prophet Mohammad's birth, officials said.

¤ Ibrahim al-Jaafari's stubborn fight to stay on as Iraq's prime minister looked all but over yesterday after a party in his main Shi'ite alliance offered to name a replacement to break a four-month-old political deadlock.

¤ The United Nations advised its aid agencies yesterday to avoid having contacts with Hamas political leaders, but balked at US calls to isolate the cash-strapped Palestinian government.

¤ Hundreds of students marched through the French capital yesterday to celebrate victory over a hated youth job law but numbers were low, suggesting protests may be dwindling now the measure has been withdrawn.

¤ Left-leaning former President Alan Garcia, whose rule ended in economic ruin, pulled ahead of his pro-business rival yesterday in a battle for the second runoff spot in Peru's presidential election.

¤ Nepali troops opened fire on protesters yesterday, wounding many, after they burned tyres, chanted slogans and clashed with police in defiance of a curfew in the sixth day of mass protests against the king.

¤ Suspected Sri Lankan Tamil rebels killed 11 people in an attack on a naval bus yesterday, officials said, stoking fears upcoming peace talks would not take place and civil war might resume.

¤ A rocket hit an open-air Afghan school in the yard of a mosque yesterday, killing six children and wounding about 30.

¤ Australia's foreign minister told an official inquiry yesterday he had been unaware of persistent diplomatic reports that the country's monopoly wheat exporter was allegedly paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

¤ Envoys to stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programme sought ways yesterday to entice the secretive state back to the table, but Washington's lead negotiator insisted the ball was in Pyongyang's court.