World Highlights

¤ The US dug in its heels against UN calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, saying such a measure made little sense between a state and a "terrorist group" like Hizbollah. Speaking hours after France proposed that the UN Security Council consider a resolution calling for a lasting cease-fire, US Ambassador John Bolton said the council should focus on disarming the Hizbollah militia and extending Lebanese government control over the entire country.

¤ President George W. Bush said he used his first veto to block legislation expanding embryonic stem cell research, putting him at odds with top scientists, most Americans and some in his own Republican Party.

¤ The United States told Iraq's leaders in stern language they must act swiftly to halt a surge in attacks by both Sunnis and Shi'ites that the United Nations said risks pitching the nation into civil war. On a day of more gun attacks, bombings and the kidnap of 19 Sunni mosque officials, the US ambassador and US commander in Iraq implicitly blamed Shi'ite and Sunni groups respectively for two major attacks that killed some 120 people this week.

¤ Reclusive North Korea pulled further into its shell, halting the reunion of families separated by the Korean War and delaying talks on forming a joint Olympic team with the South. Since North Korea test launched seven missiles on July 5, ties with its neighbour, and one of its main providers of aid, have soured. Pyongyang has drawn international condemnation for the launch.

¤ Heavily armed Islamist militia who control Mogadishu advanced towards the seat of Somalia's interim administration yesterday, stoking fears of conflict and leading the government to put its troops on alert. "We see it as aggression towards government-controlled areas and the people who support us," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told Reuters from the government's provincial base in Baidoa.

¤ Poland's new Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski pledged to reduce his country's dependence on Russian energy supplies in his opening speech to parliament ahead of a confidence vote on his cabinet. Kaczynski, the twin brother of Poland's president, also vowed to put a strong currency and prudent budgets at the heart of his coalition cabinet's policy.

¤ The European Commission dealt a blow to Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset television empire when it took a first step towards suing Italy for a media law passed by the former prime minister's government. The EU executive said it had sent a formal letter to Italy's fledgling centre-left administration, which ousted Berlusconi from power in April, saying it believed the media law could stifle competition in nascent digital terrestrial broadcasting.