World highlights

¤ A car bomb exploded in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, killing two people, as Tamil Tiger rebels lifted a water supply blockade that had sparked 14 days of fighting in the east. The government vowed to investigate the execution-style killings of 17 aid workers caught in the midst of the fighting in the east.

¤ The US Federal Reserve halted a more than two-year string of interest-rate rises, holding its benchmark rate steady while it gauges whether a slowing economy will keep inflation in check. The central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep the federal funds rate target at 5.25 per cent, pausing a cycle that had taken the rate steadily higher in 17 successive hikes since mid-2004.

¤ Swirling floodwaters inundated several towns and cities in western and southern India as the military deployed helicopters and boats to help hundreds of thousands of marooned people. Nearly 200 people have been killed in flooding due to incessant rains over the past week in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

¤ Ethiopian rescue workers dug for a third day through the devastation caused by a weekend flash flood that killed 210 people, searching for as many as 300 others still missing. Teams of police officers and soldiers using bulldozers and shovels have been clearing piles of mud and sand dumped in the eastern town of Dire Dawa after the Dechatu river burst its banks on Saturday night.

¤ Rebels holding the north of Ivory Coast said they would not accept President Laurent Gbagbo remaining in power after an October 31 deadline for holding elections in the West African state. The ultimatum set the rebel New Forces on a collision course with Mr Gbagbo, who - with the polls widely expected to be delayed - vowed on Sunday to remain in office until they take place.

¤ Last month was the most dangerous month for humanitarian workers in Sudan's Darfur region and afforded the worst access to those in need since the conflict began three-and-a-half years ago, aid agencies said. Violence in refugee camps sheltering 2.5 million people in Darfur has rocketed since an unpopular peace deal was signed in May and threatens to jeopardise the world's largest aid operation, the joint statement by four major aid agencies said.

¤ The Atlantic hurricane season will be slightly less intense this year than first predicted with up to nine hurricanes expected to form, US government forecasters said, but they warned the most dangerous part of the season was still to come. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the 2006 season could produce between 12 to 15 named storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes and three or four of them being classified as "major" hurricanes.