• Russia's foreign minister yesterday dismissed a US offer of cooperation in missile defence activities, marking a setback in Bush administration efforts to convince Moscow and allies of plans for a European shield.

• Turkey's ruling AK Party picked reformist Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its presidential candidate, a decision that may ease tension with the army and boost the Islamist-rooted party's electoral chances.

• The Nigerian opposition prepared for mass protests against flawed elections that gave the ruling party a landslide, but their chances of overturning the result looked slim.

• A car bomb killed four civilians in Mogadishu and a suicide attacker struck at Ethiopian soldiers as battles between government forces and Islamist insurgents raged for a seventh day.

• Mexico City lawmakers are almost certain to legalise abortion in the capital of the world's second-largest Roman Catholic country in direct defiance of the Pope. They had to vote on allowing women in the capital to abort in the first three months of pregnancy.

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