• US President George W. Bush has not seen the illicit video of Saddam Hussein's execution because he is focused on the "way forward" in Iraq, the White House said. Meanwhile, US commanders in Iraq expect to have handed over full control of the country's security and armed forces to the Iraqi authorities by the end of this year. Major General William Caldwell told a news conference that Iraq's military and police planned to buy hundreds of armoured vehicles, as well as helicopters, under a $150 million agreement signed last month with the US.

• A new French law will make housing an enforceable right like education, the government said, after a high-profile action by a lobby group forced the issue of homelessness to the top of the media agenda. The plight of the homeless has become a campaign issue ahead of this year's presidential election after a group calling itself The Children of Don Quixote set up a tent encampment in central Paris to draw attention to people sleeping rough.

• Belarus imposed export duty on Russian oil crossing its territory on Wednesday - with a potential impact on oil markets - as President Alexander Lukashenko hit back at Moscow in an energy row. Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said his government was imposing a duty of $45 per tonne on Russian oil that transits his country en route to customers in Europe.

• Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied suggestions by the military and his army-appointed successor he was linked to New Year's Eve bombs in Bangkok that killed three people and wounded 38. In a letter faxed to media organisations from Beijing, where he is in exile after his removal in a September 19 coup, Mr Thaksin accused the army-appointed government of jumping to conclusions by blaming "groups that have lost political powers".