European protests over fuel prices have now reached Spain, with thousands of fishermen striking and demonstrating in the streets.

The action is expected to bring Spain's fish production - the largest in Europe - to a halt. In France fishermen have been protesting for weeks, while Portuguese, Belgian and Italian colleagues are joining the campaign gradually.

Lorry drivers in the UK and the Netherlands held similar protests earlier this week. The strike demonstrates the rage over the rising cost of fuel, as oil prices hit $130 a barrel. According to trade unions the cost of diesel is now prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five years.

Wholesale fish prices, meanwhile, have been static for 20 years. The European Commission promises immediate help to save Europe's fishing industry. However, it says subsidies aiming to counterbalance rising fuel costs would be illegal.

Guy Hedgecoe and Elisabeth Nash in Madrid and Stephen Castle and Patricia Kelly in Brussels are available for 2-ways.
 

Hillary Clinton vows to fight on in the Democratic presidential nominating contest after winning a largely symbolic victory in Puerto Rico.

In Sunday's election, Mrs Clinton took 42 of the 60 delegates Puerto Rico sends to the Democratic Party's national convention in August.
Barak Obama took 18, according to AP's rolling count.

With the final two Democratic nominating contests - Montana and South Dakota - due to be held on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton is trailing Barack Obama by 1,915 delegate votes to 2,071. Her campaign suffered a further blow on Saturday when the Democratic Party committee restored only half of the votes for her from Michigan and Florida. Mrs Clinton won both states, but both were initially discounted because they held their primaries in January, in contravention of party rules.

LA Times correspondent Louise Roug, Carole King in Puerto Rico and Ed O'Keefe and LA Times correspondent Peter Nicholas in Washington, D.C. are available for 2-ways.
 

 A UN Security Council mission to Africa is holding talks with Somalia's government and its opponents in Djibouti today.

The Security Council is also hopeful that the discussions could lead to the first official, face to face, talks between the two sides. Somalia is facing an Islamic insurgency which launches almost daily attacks on the weak government. The UN says almost two million Somalis are in desperate need of outside assistance.

The UN mission, which will also visit Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries at war, aims to explore the continent's wars and see how they could be ended.

Lutfi Mohammed in Mogadishu, Andrew Heavens in Khartoum, Joe Bavier in Kinshasa and UN correspondents Steve Schiffman and Julie Walker in New York are following the UN's trip.

The Israeli Supreme Court calls on the government to reconsider the ban which stops Palestinian students from leaving the Gaza Strip to study abroad. The court says the policy harms prospects for future coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. The ruling follows the reinstatement by the US state department of Fulbright grants to seven Palestinians in Gaza, after Israel refused to provide exit permits to the students. Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza after Hamas seized power there a year ago. The territory has been, as a result, largely cut off from the outside world.
Annette Young, Tim Butcher, Sami Sockol and Arnon Regular in Jerusalem are across this story.
 

 The outgoing American general in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill, complains that the war against the Taliban is "under-resourced". General McNeill, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan for 15 months, spoke just before handing command of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to another American general, David McKiernan. McNeil said that Isaf's current manpower, 53,000 troops from 40 countries, is insufficient, and that more equipment is needed.. The handover took place at an hour-long ceremony in Kabul. Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned the new general that his task would not be easy and that more lives would be lost before Afghanistan could stand on its own feet.
Tom Coghlan and Rachel Reid in Kabul are available for two ways.
 

The UN-sponsored summit aimed at addressing soaring global food prices opens today in the Italian capital. Dozens of countries have seen riots prompted by food costs, which are now the highest in 30 years. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling for minimizing of export restrictions and says the world had a "historic opportunity to revitalise agriculture. The recent crisis is believed to have pushed 100 million people into starvation worldwide. However, much attention is focused on the arrival Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, UK and Australia are calling his presence at the summit "obscene". GRN's Susan Hodges is covering the summit. Phillip Willan, John Phillips, Frances Kannedy and Giulia Sirignani in Rome are also available for 2-ways.
 

Over 10,000 people have been detained in the past week in a major crackdown on crime in Bangladesh, the country's police chief says. The country has been under a military enforced state of emergency for over a year.

National police Chief Nur Mohammad says the operation, which is expected to last one month, is aimed at improving security ahead of the country's scheduled return to democracy with elections planned by the end of the year. He also rejected complaints from Bangladesh's main political parties, who have been accusing the police of targeting their supporters in order to strengthen the army-backed government.

"It's part of a month-long nationwide special drive against crime. We have just become a bit more aggressive than what we usually do on a normal day," said Nur Mohammad, who stressed only people against whom specific allegations exist are being detained.

Michael Leung in Dhaka is across this story.

U.S. warships are leaving the waters near Burma after the ruling military junta refused permission for the delivery of aid supplies to the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, says a senior U.S. commander.

Admiral Timothy Keating says the USS Essex and it's group are to sail away from Burma tomorrow, but they leaves behind several heavy-lift helicopters in neighbouring Thailand to assist in the relief effort.

Amy Kazmin, Andrew Chant and Andrew Drummond in Bangkok are following developments is Burma.

Police have clashed with hundreds of fisherman protesting against the high cost of fuel outside the headquarters of the European Union in the Belgian capital. Windows in EU buildings were broken and at least one car was overturned in the protest. Riot police fired water cannons and launched baton charges. The fishermen say they will go out of business unless the EU allows national governments to grant them more financial aid and give them fuel subsidies. French fishermen have been striking for several weeks over the price of diesel, which has risen by 240% in the past five years. Recently they have been joined by fishermen and lorry drivers from the UK, Spain, Portugal and Italy, who protested in ports across Europe.
Patricia Kelly and Stephen Castle are following events in Brussels.
 

Thailand is to respond to criticism for not tackling human trafficking robustly enough, and to introduce a new law designed to deal with the phenomenon. The law strengthens protection for victims of trafficking, and its presentation will be accompanied by a day of campaigning to raise public awareness of human trafficking. Thailand attracts large numbers of illegal migrants from neighbouring poor countries, including women and minors who are being brought in to be used and abused by the country's thriving sex industry. Thailand is also an important transit route for people being trafficked in the East Asian region. Thailand already has an anti-trafficking law - but observers feel they don't not work very well. The police often refuse to recognise abused migrants as victims of trafficking. The current law sees the victims as offenders and illegal immigrants. The new law is to try and change this approach and target yhr people who organize illegal trafficking and forced migration. Andrew Chant, Andrew Drummond, David Piper and Amy Kazmin in Bangkok are following the story.

An arraignment for the alleged mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other alleged plotters is scheduled to take place at the US Navy base in southeast Cuba. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash are expected to appear before a Guantanamo court judge today. They are accused of conspiring with Al-Qaeda to kill civilians and with 2,973 counts of murder. Their defence lawyers have asked for the presiding military judge to dismiss their cases, saying the timing is politically motivated. The lawyers say the planned trial start date, two months before the US elections, is designed to grab the public eye. The men are to stand trial on September 15. LA Times Guantanamo correspondent Carole Williams is covering the arraignment and will be available for 2-ways after the court hearing.

Several US and UK diplomats were stopped by Zimbabwean police while attempting to investigate political violence. US ambassador James McGee told a UK broadcaster that Police tried to force their convoy off the road in Bindura after they refused to go to a police station. McGee said their car tyres were later slashed and a Zimbabwean driver working with a US security official was beaten up. Last month, Mr. McGee and five diplomats from other missions were detained for short periods of time by Zimbabwean security forces. Earlier, the South African government said Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was released by the police on Wednesday after the President Thabo Mbeki intervened on his behalf.

Gretchen Wilson, Bill Corcoran and Robyn Dixon in Johannesburg are following events in Zimbabwe.


 

China is today preparing to ease pressure on a "quake lake" which is threatening to burst as the water level quickly rises.

Thousands of people are at risk downstream of Tangjiashan lake - the largest of over 30 quake lakes formed in the May 12 earthquake in the south-western province of Sichuan. Water is rising behind Tangjiashan's natural mud-and-rock dam, which is also at risk of collapsing "under the continuous influences of aftershocks, rainfall and other uncertain factors", the official Xinhua news agency said.

Premier Wen Jiabao visited the lake on Thursday, urging workers to ensure there were no casualties.

Over 25,000 people have been evacuated in the quake-hit areas of Beichuan, Mianyang and Jiangyou.

LA Times correspondent Barbara Demick, Mure Dickie, Alison Klayman, Daniel Schearf in Beijing and Jamila Trindle in Chengdu are covering these stories.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has held an unexpected visit with his defeated rival Hillary Clinton.

A spokesman for Obama said the two former opponents met to talk about pulling together their campaigns and uniting the party. The last-minute meeting in Washington came two days after Mr Obama effectively won the party nomination for November's US presidential election.

Obama is facing pressure to choose Mrs Clinton as his running mate but says he will not be rushed in his decision. Mrs Clinton has distanced herself from reports that she is hoping to stand as vice-president.

Mrs Clinton says she will hold an event in Washington on Saturday to thank supporters and extend her "support" for Obama's candidacy.

Ed O'Keefe, Francine Uenuma, LA Times correspondents James Gerstanzang and Peter Nicholas in Washington, DC are across this event.

Facing a new famine and rising food prices, millions of Ethiopians are in danger of starvation.

An estimated 6 million children are at risk of malnutrition, including more than 126,000 children under the age of five who are in need of urgent care.

The World Food Programme projects that 75 million GBP will be needed to feed at risk children and reports a shortfall of 180,000 tons of food throughout the country.

A UN summit held in Rome this week aimed at resolving the global food crisis. General Ban Ki Moon warned that up to 1.2 billion GBP would be needed a year to alleviate the global crisis. 862 million people worldwide are malnourished, according to participants at the summit.

Barry Malone in Addis Ababa has been out in the field and conducted interviews with UNICEF, MSF and WFP. He is available for 2-ways or reports.

Zimbabwe's run-off presidential elections will not be free and fair following a campaign of violence in the country, Human Rights Watch has warned.

In a new report the group says that there is extensive evidence linking senior officials loyal to Robert Mugabe with violent incidents against supporters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The New-York based group claims torture camps have been run by President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and its allies.

In elections in March Mr Tsvangirai came out ahead of Mr Mugabe, but not enough to win outright. The two men will face each other in the 27 June vote.

Gretchen Wilson, Bill Corcoran and Nicholas Champeaux in Johannesburg are following developments in Zimbabwe.

Chinese officials have sent letters of condolence and payments to parents of children killed when their school collapsed in the country's devastating earthquake.

The Juyuan town government in southwest China's Sichuan province is seeking to defuse the anger of parents whose children died when a classroom building collapsed in the May 12 quake, even as nearby apartments and offices all stayed upright.

Grieving parents in the town, 50 km from the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu, have protested that government corruption made a mockery of school building safety standards.

This is the most volatile quake issue facing the ruling Communist Party.

LA Times correspondent Barbara Demick, Mure Dickie, Alison Klayman, Daniel Schearf and Jamila Trindle in Beijing are covering this story.

The European Union foreign policy high representative Javier Solana is provisionally expected to visit Iran to present a big-power package of incentives for Tehran to suspend nuclear enrichment.

The five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - as well as Germany agreed on the offer for Tehran weeks ago but have had problems pinning Iran down on a time to present it.

The offer, updated from one presented in 2006, urges Iran to give up the sensitive enrichment work the West suspects is cover for building an atomic bomb in exchange for economic and diplomatic rewards.

Excluding the United States, which does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran, Solana is expected to take along political directors from the other countries to present the offer.

Martin Ebbing and Najmeh Borzorgmehr will be following the visit.

US President George Bush is today holding talks with European Union leaders on what is expected to be his last European tour in office.

Leaders at the annual US-EU summit in Brdo are expected to issue a tough joint message to Tehran that they are prepared to launch more sanctions against Iran's banks.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is also preparing to go to Iran at the weekend with a new offer of economic and political incentives. American and European leaders hope to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, which Tehran claims is solely for peaceful purposes.

Iranian Defence Minister was quoted on Tuesday warning Israel of a very "painful" response if it launches a military strike in reaction to the country's disputed nuclear programme.

Kerry Skyring is reporting from the summit in Slovenia. GRN correspondents will be available on each leg of Bush's tour.

Faced with protests, expected to number 1 million people around the country, South Korea's entire cabinet offered to resign today.

Police have warned that as many as 100,000 people may take to the streets of Seoul in protest of a trade agreement to import beef from the United States.

The trade agreement has been the trigger in a growing list of grievances against the 3-month old conservative majority government.

Political opposition from its left-leaning opponents and labour unions have effectively stalled the parliament from enacting President Lee Myung-bak's plans for sweeping reform, including tax cuts, mass privatization of state-run firms and banks and efforts to make the country more accessible to foreign investment.

President Lee is warning that South Korea could be heading into a financial crisis due to rising prices and a cooling economy.

Additional protests and strikes may be held next week by trade unions.

Jason Strother and Anna Fifield in Seoul are covering this event.

Kenya is today holding by-elections in five constituencies; a key test for a fragile government coalition less than six months after deadly post-election violence tore the nation apart.

The campaigns wrapped up Monday for the seats of two MPs who were shot dead after December's polls and another, Kenneth Marende, who relinquished his seat when he was elected parliament speaker.

The voting will be overshadowed by the deaths of two government ministers in a plane crash on Tuesday near the western town of Narok.

Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Assistant Home Affairs Minister Lorna Laboso were on their way to assist with the by-elections when the Cessna plane the ministers were flying in crashed.

The parliamentary impact of the by-elections may be limited, but observers fear some of the grievances that sparked unrest earlier this year could resurface.

Richard Lough, Rob Crilly, Steve Bloomfield and LA Times correspondent Edmund Sanders in Nairobi will be covering the elections.

Nepal's former king is due to leave the palace in Kathmandu today, after the country's Maoist-led assembly voted to abolish the monarchy last month.

Guyendra Shah, now an ordinary citizen, will give a press conference before he and his wife, the former queen Komal Shah, move to a temporary residence in Nagarjun, in the north-western suburbs of Kathmandu.

The move is seen as the last chapter in the fall of the Shah Dynasty, who unified Nepal in the 1760s.

Although the government has welcomed Guyendra's agreement to go quietly, the overall ending of the monarchy has been bitter.

It follows the unexplained massacre of the Royal family in 2001 and the
former king's unsuccessful attempts to suppress the Maoist insurgency.

The palace, home to the Royal family for over a 100 years, is to become a museum.

Guyendra is also expected to hand over his crown and royal sceptre, as well furniture and gifts he received in his capacity as head of state, to the government.

Liam Cochrane and Subina Shrestha in Kathmandu are available for 2-ways.

In a vote anxiously watched by the EU, people in the Irish republic are to decide today whether to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.

Opinion polls indicate that passage of the referendum would be very close, as groups advocating a 'no' vote have an edge in some polls.

Ireland is the only one of the 27 EU member states to hold a popular vote for ratification.

The treaty, if passed , would come into effect in January and will create a long-term president of the European Commission, a strengthened foreign affairs post, and remove national veto power in more policy areas.

Polls opened at 7:00 and counting is scheduled to begin at 9:00.

Deaglan de Breadun in Dublin is following the vote.

The BBC has obtained documents revealing that the Zimbabwean military is actively involved in running the re-election campaign for Robert Mugabe.

The papers outline the use of covert plans against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to harass and drive out their supporters of Zanu-PF strongholds and rural areas. Another document reveals Mugabe's party is using scarce food supplies as a political weapon.

Over 60 people have been killed, thousands beaten and many more driven from their homes in what Robert Mugabe has called an "all-out-war".

The documents show that Mr Mugabe and his supporters are using violence and intimidation to guarantee his re-election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on 27 June.

Bill Corcoran, Nicholas Champeaux and Gretchen Wilson in Johannesburg are following developments in Zimbabwe.