World Highlights

¤ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenged US President George W. Bush to a televised debate and voiced defiance as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the West fears is a step toward building nuclear bombs.

¤ Tropical Storm Ernesto bore down on south Florida but forecasters said there was only a small chance it would regain hurricane strength before barrelling into the state's most populous areas.

¤ A shadowy Kurdish rebel group threatened to turn Turkey into "hell" after a two-day bombing spree which killed three people and wounded dozens of others at popular tourist resorts.

¤ Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded a dozen in attacks on militants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, medics and witnesses said.

¤ Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to dispel fears of foul play during next year's handover of power in Africa's top oil producer, promising free and fair elections in April.

¤ Warren Steed Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a polygamist sect and one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, was arrested in a routine traffic stop outside Las Vegas, authorities said.

¤ The US space shuttle Atlantis left its seaside launch pad on a slow, day-long ride back to shelter from high winds and rain expected from Tropical Storm Ernesto, Nasa said.

¤ After a two-day wait, top US official Jendayi Frazer met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir yesterday but failed to persuade him to accept UN troops in the violent Darfur region.