World highlights

• Asia-Pacific leaders vowed to free up trade and combat terrorism while condemning North Korea's October 9 nuclear test, as security issues again overshadowed the group's annual meetings. This year's chairman of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet, said in response to a question at a news conference that North Korea's actions posed "a clear threat to our shared interest of peace and security".

• US President George W. Bush sought help from China and Russia yesterday on thwarting the twin nuclear challenges of North Korea and Iran as security dominated his agenda at an Asia Pacific summit. Thousands of Vietnamese lined the streets of Ho Chi Minh City to greet Mr Bush on his arrival yesterday night from Hanoi, many waving, some cheering, almost all smiling, with children watching from atop their parents' shoulders.

• Israel's air force cancelled a planned raid on the home of a Gaza militant after hundreds of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the building, an Israeli military spokesman and witnesses said. Hours after the successful "human shield" protest, an Israeli aircraft attacked a car carrying Hamas militants on a crowded Gaza City street. Hospital officials said an elderly passerby died of his wounds after being hit in the strike.

• The Sudanese government has launched a major offensive in North Darfur despite an agreement to hold new talks among all parties to the conflict, Darfur rebels said. A rebel commander said clashes continued on Saturday and yesterday, after joint attacks by government forces and militia on rebel bases in the Bir Mazza area on Wednesday and Thursday.

• Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry said he is still considering a second run for the White House in 2008, despite public criticism of what he has called a "botched joke" about the Iraq war. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Mr Kerry was asked he had given up on a presidential run after the flap over his comment to students that they could "get stuck in Iraq" if they did not study hard enough.

• Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in remarks broadcast yesterday, called on his followers to prepare for peaceful protests to topple what he described as a US government in Lebanon. He told them to get ready to take to the streets to demand a national unity government or early parliamentary elections but did not say when Hezbollah, in conjunction with other opposition forces, would call for the protests.