World Highlights

¤ A suspected dynamite attack on a major Nigerian oil pipeline killed eight people and cut output from the world's eighth largest exporter by seven per cent, authorities said yesterday. The sabotage by unidentified gunmen on the pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell also caused a major oil spill and fire in the remote southern Niger Delta, the company said.

¤ Saudi Arabia yesterday executed three Saudi men who were convicted of murder, bringing to at least 84 the number of people put to death in the kingdom this year.

¤ Three Italian peacekeepers were slightly wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the western Afghan city of Herat yesterday, and at least one attacker died, a spokesman for the Nato-led peacekeeping force said. In a separate incident, the governor of the eastern province of Nuristan escaped injury after 20 rockets were fired at his vehicle on Monday, his spokesman said.

¤ Syria's Foreign Minister said yesterday that witnesses misled an investigation into the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri but that Damascus would cooperate with the new head of the inquiry. Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz is expected to take over as head of the UN inquiry from German Detlev Mehlis, who directly blamed the "Syrian authorities" for Mr Hariri's murder in remarks published on Saturday.

¤ Some 5,000 police and soldiers will provide security and crowd control for a series of anniversary events in Thailand's tsunami-hit region next week, a senior police commander said yesterday. Details of the stepped-up security in six provinces, where 5,395 people died in the December 26 tragedy, followed Australia's warning on Friday "of the high threat of terrorist attack" during tsunami memorial events in Thailand.

¤ British police said yesterday they had arrested a man in connection with the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21, saying he had been held by anti-terrorist officers as he stepped off a plane from Ethiopia. The 23-year-old man, from the Tottenham area of north London, was arrested on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism" as he left the plane from Addis Ababa at London's Gatwick airport at 0500 GMT.

¤ Tanzania's electoral commission yesterday declared Jakaya Kikwete winner of the country's presidential race, sealing the ruling party's four-decade grip on power for another five years. Mr Kikwete, Tanzania's Foreign Minister, took 80.2 per cent of the total in the December 14 poll.

¤ At least 20 people were killed and 25 injured in Pakistan yesterday when a bus plunged off an earthquake-damaged road into a river, police said. The accident occurred near the town of Chinari, about 50 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

¤ A four-storey hotel collapsed yesterday in central Algiers, killing eight people, including a baby, rescuers and survivors said. Six other people were injured in the accident in the ancient Casbah area, which occurred early in the morning when most residents were asleep.

¤ Italy's government is close to agreement on a new Bank of Italy governor, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday, a day after Antonio Fazio resigned the post amid allegations of malpractice in a takeover scandal. Mr Berlusconi's Cabinet had threatened to oust Mr Fazio, who had become an embarrassment to Italy as it emerged he was under investigation for abuse of office and insider trading in his role as supreme arbiter of bank takeovers.