World highlights

• A Catholic priest and five young Christians have been kidnapped in Baghdad, three days after the murder of another priest and three of his assistants in Iraq. A report cited unconfirmed rumours that a ransom demand had been made to the patriarch of the Chaldean church, Emmanuel Delly. The Chaldean rite is one of the ancient rites of the Catholic Church. Its members, mostly in Iraq and Syria, are in unity with Rome.

• Turkey denied a report it had launched a major incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels, but a military source said troops had conducted a limited raid across the mountainous border. Washington has urged Ankara to be cautious, fearing conflict in what has been one of the most stable areas of Iraq.

• Russia will not quit a key arms control pact next week at a conference in Vienna, local news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying. Russia requested the emergency conference to discuss the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty after President Vladimir Putin announced in April that Moscow was freezing its commitments under the pact.

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called off a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, seeking commitments Israel will release frozen Palestinian funds and take other steps.