World Highlights

¤ The Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas group agreed to halt their clashes even as they headed for a showdown over Mr Abbas's threat to hold a referendum on a statehood proposal. Mr Abbas has given the Hamas government until the end of the week to accept a manifesto calling for a Palestinian state that implicitly recognises Israel or face a vote on the issue.

¤ British police were given three more days yesterday to question two men arrested by anti-terrorism police in a raid on a house police suspected of being used for making a chemical bomb. The men, one of whom was shot during the operation, were detained after more than 250 officers, some wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits, raided a house in Forest Gate, east London, last Friday.

¤ The Nato-led coalition of forces in Afghanistan is investigating a report that some Canadian soldiers have been abducted in the war-torn country, Canada's Defence Department said. Al-Jazeera television earlier quoted Taliban sources as saying the group had seized an unspecified number of Canadian soldiers. Canada has 2,300 troops in the southern city of Kandahar as part of the Nato force.

¤ Armed militants kidnapped five Koreans and killed 10 security force members in an attack on a small natural gas plant in Nigeria's southern delta, authorities and security sources said. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility and said the Koreans would be freed in exchange for a jailed militia leader who is on trial for treason and was denied bail by a Nigerian court on Tuesday.

¤ Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian gunmen and wounded two at the border with the Gaza Strip yesterday, witnesses said.The Israeli army said soldiers had fired at three Palestinians as they tried to infiltrate near the Karni crossing. The Palestinians appeared to have been shot, the spokesman added, but could not elaborate on their condition.