World Highlights

¤ International donors pledged $500 million in aid for the Palestinian Territories yesterday and called on Israel to give humanitarian agencies better access to the region. Sweden organised the meeting with Norway and Spain to raise $170 million for a United Nations appeal and to draw attention to hardships in the Palestinian territories that have increased since the militant Hamas group came to power after January polls.

¤ The US military shot down a target ballistic missile over the Pacific in the widest test of its emerging antimissile shield in 18 months, a witness to the test told Reuters.

"We've got an intercept," said Riki Ellision, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a booster group close to missile-defense contractors and the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

¤ Violent deaths among civilians in Iraq may have fallen by a quarter last month, statistics indicated, despite a bloody week in Baghdad that ended with 70 dead in a series of explosions late on Thursday.

The partial data, provided by Iraq's Interior Ministry and based on figures from the Health Ministry, tend to confirm US military confidence that a crackdown in the capital has slowed the bloodletting but also that dozens are still dying every day.

¤ Dangerous Hurricane John roared toward one of Mexico's most exclusive beach resorts, forcing hundreds of foreign tourists to flee ahead of howling winds, angry seas and lashing rain.

Five-star hotels set up shelters for mostly US guests who abandoned plans to play golf on courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, swim or go boating at Los Cabos in Baja California.