World highlights

• Thousands of US soldiers on the offensive north of Baghdad are facing fierce resistance from hundreds of al Qaeda militants who are ready to fight to the death, an American general said. The militants are making their stand in and around the Iraqi city of Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, where the US military on Tuesday launched one of its biggest operations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

• The top US nuclear envoy, just back from a rare visit to North Korea, said Pyongyang was ready to disable its nuclear reactor in weeks and meet pledges it made in a disarmament deal. However, a North Korean diplomat in Vienna raised the prospect of further delays in implementing the February13 disarmament-for-aid deal, saying an impasse over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank had still not been resolved.

• An air strike by foreign-led forces killed 25 civilians, including 12 members of a family, and 20 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, a police chief said. Helmand provincial police chief Hussien Andiwal said the raid took place on Thursday night as part of an operation against Taliban fighters by foreign forces and Afghan troops.

• The US space shuttle Atlantis touched down yesterday in California's Mojave Desert after rain and thick clouds prevented it from returning to its home port in Florida. Safely back from a two-week mission to the International Space Station, the shuttle and seven astronauts landed at Edwards Air Force Base, its backup landing site, at 3:49 p.m. EDT (1949 GMT).