World highlights

¤ The warring parties from Sudan's Darfur region struggled to extract concessions from each other before a midnight deadline for a peace agreement, as senior US and European officials pressed for a deal.

The government of Sudan has accepted an 85-page draft settlement but three Darfur rebel factions refuse to sign, saying they are unhappy with the proposals on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing.

¤ Troops stood guard at dozens of oil refineries and gas fields in Bolivia as international concern grew over the sweeping nationalisation ordered by President Evo Morales a day earlier.

Mr Morales won office on promises to give the state greater control of the impoverished country's natural gas riches, but the scale of the nationalization he unveiled at a Brazilian-run gas field on Monday surprised analysts and alarmed investors.

¤ France's Dominique de Villepin ruled out resigning over a political smear campaign, the latest worry for a prime minister weakened in recent months by student protests and riots by poor youths.

French media have been speculating for days that Mr Villepin might have to step down over the so-called Clearstream affair, which apparently aimed to discredit his main rival for a 2007 presidential election, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

¤ Nepal's new prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, named a seven-member multiparty cabinet with the task of negotiating peace with Maoist rebels and curbing the king's powers.

King Gyanendra, who bowed to bloody street protests last week and handed power back to political parties, appointed the cabinet on Koirala's recommendation, a statement from the palace said.