World Highlights

O Europeans have asked the United States to consider selling new airplanes to Iran as part of a proposed package of incentives aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis with Tehran, diplomats said yesterday. The Europeans have also proposed a regional dialogue that some hope could eventually draw Washington and Tehran, adversaries for more than 25 years, into direct talks.

O Ten Guantanamo detainees laid a trap for US guards by luring them into a room with a staged suicide attempt, then attacked them with improvised weapons before being overpowered after an intense fight, US leaders at the detention camp said yesterday. US officials described the incident on Thursday as probably the most intense outbreak of violence at the jail for foreign terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since it opened in January 2002.

O The United Nations top anti-torture body told the United States yesterday that any secret jails it ran for foreign terrorism suspects, along with the Guantanamo Bay facility, were illegal and should be closed.

O Afghan security forces have captured three Taliban commanders in a week of clashes that killed about 100 people, officials said yesterday.

O North Korea may be preparing to launch a long-range ballistic missile that could reach parts of the United States, Japanese media reports said yesterday. But Japan's government said it did not believe a launch was imminent.

O The US military is considering sending hundreds of soldiers from a force held in reserve in Kuwait into Iraq to provide extra security as Iraq prepares to seat a new government, a defence official said yesterday.

O The World Health Organisation has confirmed two more bird flu deaths in Indonesia, a senior health ministry official said yesterday.

O French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that tighter immigration rules would benefit both France and Africa, defending new legislation that has touched off angry protests as he tours West Africa.