World Highlights

¤ Al Jazeera television yesterday received a videotape in which Al Qaeda claims responsibility for the July bombings in London. Al Jazeera said the tape contained the will of one of the July 7 London suicide bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, in which he blamed the attacks on Britain's support for the war on Iraq and Western "tyrants".

¤ A Lebanese prosecutor yesterday charged four pro-Syrian generals with murder in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, judicial sources said. They said judge Saeed Meerza charged the four men, detained on the orders of chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis on Tuesday, with murder, attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act in the February killing of Mr Hariri and 20 others.

¤ Iraq executed three convicted murderers yesterday, the first time the government has carried out the death penalty since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, government spokesman Laith Kubba said. The executions could pave the way for similar death sentences against Saddam and senior aides awaiting trial.

¤ Typhoon Talim swept into southern China yesterday after killing two people in Taiwan and injuring 39 as the island shut businesses, schools and financial markets to ride out the storm. Talim cut power lines, toppled billboards and tore up trees, while heavy rain led to flooding in some towns in central Taiwan. The number of households in Taiwan without power was as high as 1.48 million.

¤ Tension mounted between the EU and Turkey yesterday after Ankara said it would not open its ports and airports to ships and planes from EU member Cyprus in apparent breach of its EU customs pact. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul made the defiant statement before flying to Britain, where EU foreign ministers were meeting to discuss the implications of Turkey's refusal to recognise Cyprus for the planned start of its membership talks on October 3.