World highlights

• Gunmen abducted two Italians working for the International Committee of the Red Cross in southern Gaza, the latest in a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in the Palestinian coastal strip. Police said the aid workers were in a car on their way to the town of Khan Younis when they were intercepted by gunmen.

• A divided UN nuclear watchdog has put off until tomorrow a ruling on Iran's bid for aid for a project the West fears could yield bomb-grade plutonium, but is still likely to block such assistance, diplomats said. They said Western and developing nations had failed to hammer out a compromise deal on Iran's request at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's technical affairs committee, meeting ahead of an IAEA governing board session.

• HIV infection is rising in every region of the world and most worryingly in countries like Uganda and Thailand, which had been heralded as success stories in the fight against AIDS, the UN said. Nearly 40 million adults and children are infected worldwide. The most striking increases in new cases are in east Asia and in eastern Europe/central Asia, mainly due to drug use and unsafe sex, UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation said.

• Supporters of Congolese former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba attacked the Supreme Court, which was set ablaze as they rioted to protest against results showing he had lost a presidential election. What had started as a pro-Bemba protest turned violent when gunmen opened fire outside the court in the capital Kinshasa, sending black-robed judges fleeing from the building.

• Six African leaders met to try to advance peace efforts in Darfur and repair frayed ties between neighbours Sudan and Chad, whose border region has been destabilised by Darfur's worsening violence. The leaders of Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya and Sudan will explore ways of widening a Darfur peace pact to include all factions, a Libyan official said.

• Nepal's multi-party government and Maoist rebels signed a landmark peace accord that declared a formal end to a decade-old civil war that has killed more than 13,000 people. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist rebel leader Prachanda signed the deal which comes seven months after King Gyanendra surrendered power to political parties following weeks of often violent street protests.