World highlights

• Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including a top militant commander, in raids in the northern Gaza Strip while a 57-year-old grandmother blew herself up near soldiers. The army said soldiers spotted the woman approaching them with an explosive device near the Jabalya refugee camp and threw a stun grenade at her. The woman detonated the device, killing herself, the army said. Three soldiers were slightly wounded.

• The Netherlands began what is likely to be a long period of political uncertainty and economic inertia after the Christian Democrats kept power in an election but failed to win a majority in parliament. A surge in support for the far right, as in other parts of Europe, as well as for the far left could condemn the major centrist rivals to work together as in Germany or Austria - and agreement on such a coalition could take months.

• The UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors indefinitely blocked Iran's bid for technical aid for a reactor project over concerns it could be secretly used to yield bomb-grade plutonium. But diplomats said the ruling, which the International Atomic Energy Agency's board adopted by consensus after days of haggling between industrialised and developing nations, left a theoretical possibility of revisiting Iran's request in future.