World Highlights

¤ Jordan's King Abdullah appointed his national security chief as Prime Minister yesterday and urged him to adopt a tough stance against Islamic militancy but ensure political liberalisation was not jeopardised. King Abdullah asked Marouf Bakheet, 58, a former ambassador to Israel with a long career in military intelligence, to form a new government to address security concerns after triple suicide bombings killed 60 people, officials said.

¤ Kenya's opposition called for early elections yesterday after President Mwai Kibaki dissolved his Cabinet in response to a humiliating referendum defeat on a new Constitution. "This parliament is now discredited and the President must dissolve it to pave way for the people of Kenya to elect representatives with a new mandate," said a statement by the main opposition and a dissident party from the ruling coalition. The government dismissed the dissolution call as an opposition power grab.

¤ Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers said yesterday they had ended their boycott of the former Iraqi leader's trial and would go to court on Monday for the next session, despite continuing fears for their safety. Two defence lawyers were killed within days of the trial opening on October 19, leading Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, to suspend all contacts with the court.

¤ Opposition parties, charging Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberals are too corrupt to govern, moved a parliamentary motion of non-confidence yesterday that will likely trigger an election call next week. The three opposition parties decided to bring down the Liberals after the report of a judicial inquiry this month found evidence of a kickbacks scheme involving government advertising contracts and some Liberal Party officials.

¤ Spanish police have arrested Juan Carlos Fotea, wanted in Argentina for the abduction of writer and journalist Rodolfo Walsh during Argentina's "dirty war" in 1977, a court official said yesterday. Mr Fotea, formerly a member of Argentina's military, appeared before a High Court judge who decided he should be jailed pending extradition proceedings.

¤ Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was indicted yesterday for the second time in two days, this time for three disappearances that are part of a 1974 human rights case. Mr Pinochet, who turns 90 today, had just been granted bail yesterday morning in another case. On Wednesday, he was charged with tax fraud, passport forgery, using false documents and incomplete reporting of his assets in a separate case involving an estimated $28 million he hid in foreign bank accounts.