World highlights

• Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was sending envoys to neighbouring countries to seek help in improving security in Iraq and would call for a conference of regional states on the issue. Mr Maliki made his announcement hours after gunmen and bombers killed 30 people in Baghdad, including 14 Shi'ite religious employees who were ambushed on a highway north of the capital.

• The United States urged a reluctant Russia and China to agree quickly on a sanctions plan against Tehran and its nuclear programme as officials from six world powers met to seek a breakthrough at talks in Paris. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country would consider it an act of "enmity" if France, Britain and Germany tried to block Tehran's nuclear development and would reconsider ties with them.

• Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, last seen in an October 28 video clip, congratulated ally Hugo Chavez on his re-election as Venezuelan president, according to a message published yesterday. "Your victory was conclusive, crushing and without parallel in the history of our Americas," said the brief note signed by Castro and published by ruling Communist newspaper Granma.

• Lebanon's opposition buried an anti-government demonstrator whose death in a street skirmish has raised sectarian tensions and the army's commander warned his forces might not be able to control the streets. General Michel Suleiman was quoted as saying by a local news agency that daily protests aimed at ousting Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora risked getting out of hand and the military might be unable to keep the peace.