World Highlights

¤ Chad's President Idriss Deby broke diplomatic ties with neighbour Sudan, which he accused of trying to topple him, and warned that his country could stop sheltering thousands of Sudanese refugees.

¤ Iran's president said that the existence of the "Zionist regime", Iran's term for Israel, was a threat to the Islamic world, days after declaring Iran had become a nuclear power by enriching uranium.

¤ President George W. Bush said Donald Rumsfeld has "my full support," after a number of retired generals criticized the defense secretary's handling of the Iraq war.

¤ Six Taliban guerillas were killed in an air strike by US-led troops in eastern Afghanistan after blasts elsewhere in the country killed three policemen and wounded two British troops.

¤ Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the Hamas government would not be brought down by financial pressure from what he called an "unholy alliance" led by the United States.

¤ A top court in Central African Republic has referred its former president, Ange Felix Patasse, and Congo's Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on war crimes charges.

¤ Sri Lanka said it had agreed new dates for talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, a day after a rebel request for a postponement, as fresh violence killed a civilian.

¤ A series of grenade attacks by suspected Muslim militants killed five people, including two women, in Indian Kashmir's main city and wounded 20, police said.