• Talks between Sudan and its neighbours Chad and Central African Republic ended yesterday with an agreeement not to support rebels attacking each other's territory, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said. Chad and Central African Republic accuse Sudan of supporting rebels launching cross-border attacks from Darfur, exacerbating ethnic frictions and displacing tens of thousands of people.

• The son of ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that he expects his father to recover totally from surgery that forced him to relinquish power temporarily in July. "We believe that little by little comrade Fidel will see the total recovery that all the Cuban people and revolutionaries the world over hope for," said Fidel Castro Diaz Balart.

• Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday Turkey would send a team of experts to Jerusalem to survey archaeological work near the al-Aqsa mosque which has triggered protests across the Muslim world. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking at the same news conference during a visit to Ankara, said he welcomed the decision, saying: "We have nothing to hide."

• Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday appointed Ramzan Kadyrov, a 30-year-old former rebel, as acting President of Chechnya after removing Alu Alkhanov from the top job, a spokesman for Mr Putin said. Mr Kadyrov, who was made Chechnya's Prime Minister last year, is the son of a murdered former Chechen leader and head of a private militia force which human rights groups implicate in murder and kidnap, but which he says provides security in the strifetorn region.