World highlights

• The United States and Britain said Iran could soon face sanctions because it showed no sign of halting sensitive nuclear work, while the EU said the latest talks had been helpful but had brought no breakthrough. A senior Iranian atomic official said suspending uranium enrichment, which the West says Iran wants to use to build atomic bombs, would not solve the nuclear standoff.

• Fatah gunmen threatened to kill leaders of the governing Hamas group, escalating a power struggle marked by the worst internal violence in Gaza and the West Bank since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994. On a visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged an end to the bloodshed that has coincided with calls by Washington's Arab allies to restart Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

• Breaking his silence on a scandal that has jolted the Republican Party, President George W. Bush said he was disgusted by former Republican Representative Mark Foley's sexual messages to teen-age boys. Speaking to reporters, Mr Bush also voiced support for Illinois Republican Representative Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House of Representatives who is under fire for not having moved faster against Foley.

• Iraq's parliament welcomed an agreement designed to staunch sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad, but there was no sign of further talks to add substance to the prime minister's sketchy four-point plan.