• Some 15,000 Serbs protested outside the US embassy in Belgrade yesterday to denounce a Western-backed plan to give independence to the Albanian majority of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province. Some carried banners urging "Russia, Use Your Veto" to block the proposal at the United Nations Security Council. Cardboard cut-outs of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Hu Jintao bobbed above the crowd.

• The EU held out the possibility, yesterday, of engaging gradually with a Palestinian unity government that responds to international demands but cast doubt on resuming direct aid near-term. The comments by European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and other officials came as Palestinian factions meeting in the Gaza Strip said the line-up of their unity government should be unveiled by Friday.

• North Korea's chief nuclear envoy embarked on a rare trip to the US yesterday while South Korea sent a top official to Pyongyang to persuade the North to quickly start scrapping its nuclear arms programme. North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan arrived in Beijing, yesterday, en route for talks with US officials, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

• Canada's Parliament was set to scrap two contentious anti-terror measures yesterday, angering the minority Conservative government, which accuses opposition legislators of being soft on terror. One provision allows police to arrest people suspected of planning an imminent terrorist attack and hold them for three days without charge. The second provides for investigative hearings in which a judge can compel witnesses to testify about alleged terrorist activities.