World highlights

• Iran has no brake and no reverse gear in its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, while a deputy foreign minister vowed Tehran was prepared for any eventuality, "even for war". The tough talk comes ahead of a meeting, this week, of officials from the UN Security Council plus Germany in London to consider possible further steps after limited sanctions were imposed on Tehran, in December.

• Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Nablus, putting 30,000 Palestinians under curfew as soldiers searched for wanted militants. Hundreds of soldiers and dozens of armoured vehicles cordoned off the centre of Nablus in what its governor, Kamal al-Sheikh, described as the biggest Israeli operation in the city since 2004.

• A general strike in Guinea will end as from tomorrow after President Lansana Conte agreed to demands to choose a new prime minister from a list proposed by opponents, union leaders said. The deal signalled the end of a work stoppage that has gripped the West African nation, the world's top exporter of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium, since February 12, following an earlier strike in January.

• French nationalist leader Jean-Marie Le Pen mixed traditional anti-immigration rhetoric with pledges to families, farmers and the poor in a broad speech setting out his fifth presidential election campaign. Mr Le Pen, who stunned France by coming second to Jacques Chirac in the previous election five years ago, told a rally he would impose strict immigration controls and pay for social projects by cutting off welfare to foreigners.