World Highlights

• Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was sentenced to 108 months in prison and fined $10 million in a US court yesterday after being convicted in 2004 of extortion and laundering money. Under house arrest since his detention, Lazarenko became a multimillionaire while in power during the chaotic early post-Soviet days of the 1990s. He is the first foreign leader to be sentenced in a US court since Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in 1992.

• Russia rejected talk for now of sanctions against Iran and France warned against conflict with Tehran, raising doubts whether it will face swift penalties if nuclear work is not halted by an August 31 deadline. Responding to an offer of economic incentives to stop enriching uranium, Iran hinted to six world powers on Tuesday it could rein in its programme as a result of talks to implement the package - but not as a precondition as they demand.

• South Korea is certain North Korea has nuclear weapons and Seoul's best estimate is Pyongyang has produced one or two bombs, its defence minister said, amid reports that the North may be preparing a nuclear test. Another senior official said South Korea and China had agreed to cooperate in preventing the North from conducting a test, which would pose a grave situation in the region.

• Venezuela is committed to feeding China's appetite for energy, because it wants the country to become a new kind of great nation, President Hugo Chavez said after announcing a slew of oil deals. He repeated a pledge to provide up to one million barrels per day of oil to China in the next decade, and unveiled plans to build a petrochemical plant with Sinopec on the Paraguana Peninsula.

• The Taliban denied secretly talking with the Afghan government and Nato to lay down their arms in the volatile south, rejecting such reports as propaganda by weakened foreign forces. The guerillas' military commander, Mullah Dadullah, told Reuters by satellite phone Nato and US-led forces were trying to sow dissent among Taliban fighters and supporters.

• Rampaging private armies and organisational flaws threaten to undermine Congo's October presidential election run-off, which was intended as a watershed for peace, political analysts say. A relatively successful July 30 first round was followed by three days of pitched battles between soldiers loyal to President Joseph Kabila and ex-rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba.

• Former US President Gerald Ford underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to increase blood flow through two coronary arteries, his spokeswoman said. Mr Ford, 93, who was admitted to Mayo on August 15, returned to his room at the clinic after the procedure on Thursday and was "resting comfortably" with his wife, Betty, and other family members, spokesman Penny Circle said in a statement.