World highlights

• The US military reported the deaths of five more soldiers in Iraq as Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended a visit aimed at finding a new strategy to curb violence and allow US troops to withdraw. Four US servicemen were killed in action on Thursday in Anbar province, heartland of the unrelenting Sunni insurgency against US forces and the Iraqi government and the most dangerous place in Iraq for American soldiers.

• Gunmen loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah opened fire on Hamas members in the occupied West Bank, wounding at least nine civilians, hospital officials and witnesses said. They said gunmen opened fire as thousands of Hamas activists and militants attended a rally in the city of Nablus.

• Negotiations aimed at coaxing North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons ended without progress, with Washington and Pyongyang blaming each other for betraying expectations and no date set for fresh talks. The six parties - the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China - agreed only to "reconvene at the earliest opportunity", according to a statement from the chief Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei.

• The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran's nuclear work, a one-day delay because of Russian objections to parts of the measure. The current council president, Nasser Abdelaziz al-Nasser of Qatar, said he planned for a vote in the morning, hours after another round of consultations yesterday of the full 15-member council as well as talks among key negotiators - Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China.

• The Cuban National Assembly met for its year-end session without the ailing Fidel Castro, in another sign that his nearly half a century as Cuba's hands-on leader may be over. The seat usually occupied by the 80-year-old Castro in Havana's convention center was empty at the opening meeting, which was led by his brother Raul Castro and other members of the island's Communist Party leadership.

• Ethiopian tanks rolled to the battlefront as Somali Islamists and Somalia's pro-government troops pounded each other with artillery and rockets in a fourth day of clashes. In its first detailed response to the fighting that has killed dozens and wounded hundreds, Addis Ababa said its patience was running out and it demanded the Islamists stop all "hostile anti-Ethiopian activities".