World Highlights

• Japan lost a crucial vote yesterday at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission that was a setback in its long-term drive to overturn a two-decade-old international ban on whaling. Japan and other pro-whaling countries failed to stop the group from discussing the fate of dolphins, porpoises and small whales, which are not covered by the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling but which conservationists say are as threatened as the great whales.

• With US officials concerned North Korea is preparing to test an intercontinental missile, the State Department yesterday urged Pyongyang against going ahead with what it said would be a provocation. If the test did take place, it would be Pyongyang's first test of a long-range missile since it stunned the world in August 1998 by firing a Taepodong 1 over Japan that landed in the Pacific Ocean.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday introduced a new twist into the hot debate of who will succeed him, saying the Kremlin top job might end up with an as yet unknown outsider. The identity of who will replace Mr Putin when he steps down in 2008 is the country's hottest political topic, with Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at present seen as strong possibles to follow him.

• Sri Lanka's air force bombed areas around the headquarters of Tamil Tiger rebels for a second night yesterday as victims of a suspected rebel civilian bus ambush were buried in a mass grave. Jets raided areas near the de facto rebel capital Kilinochchi at first light, but attacks then ceased apparently while the funerals of the 64 people killed in Thursday's attack were held. Witnesses said bombing resumed at nightfall.

• Nepal's government agreed yesterday to dissolve parliament and set up an interim administration including Maoist rebels after a day of top-level peace talks in the capital, the two sides said. Rebel chief Prachanda said the Maoists would also dissolve their parallel governments around the countryside.

• Hamas militants distanced themselves yesterday from a ceasefire offer that the Palestinian government led by the Islamist group made to Israel, while other armed groups also spurned the proposal.