A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Israel to carry on digging at Islamic site
JERUSALEM -Israel's cabinet has decided to press ahead with archaeological digging outside Jerusalem's most contentious religious site despite Arab protests, a government official said.
"All the ministers agreed the work being done does not harm Islamic holy sites in any way," the official said.
Israel's archaeological authority is searching for ancient artefacts some 50 metres from Haram al- Sharif, a compound in Arab East Jerusalem that houses the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque.
- (Reuters)
Korean talks in Beijing stalled
BEIJING -Envoys to six- party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme have ended a fourth day of haggling without agreement, bogged down on demands by Pyongyang for compensation should it disarm.
Negotiators from North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and host China have agreed on most of a plan that would oblige Pyongyang to shut down nuclear activities in return for economic and security assurances.
- (Reuters)
Turkmen poll 'step in right direction'
ASHGABAT -Yesterday's presidential vote in Turkmenistan was not free or fair but was a step in the right direction, the head of a group of parliamentarians from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has said.
The gas-rich Central Asian nation voted for a new leader following the death in December of Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the country with an iron fist for two decades.
"They may hardly be called elections and they were absolutely not free and fair," Portuguese member of parliament Joao Soares said.
- (Reuters)
Berlusconi attacks gay rights bill
ROME- Italian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi has assailed a bill to grant legal rights to gay and unmarried couples, saying in an interview published yesterday it would damage the institution of the family.
Mr Berlusconi told the Rome daily Il Messaggerothe proposal by Romano Prodi's government, which stops far short of allowing gays to marry, would change little in practice but "has a big symbolic value".
- (Reuters)
Mogadishu gun and grenade battle
MOGADISHU -Unknown assailants fired rocket- propelled grenades at a police station in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, triggering a gun battle with security forces.
A local man said: "I heard three big grenade blasts at Madina police station, then gunfire erupted."
- (Reuters)