WELLINGTON - New Zealand Foreign Minister Don McKinnon said Commonwealth ministers meeting in London would likely recommend the continued suspension of Nigeria from the 53-nation body and investigate whether further measures should be taken.

LIBREVILLE - Gabon`s veteran president, Omar Bongo, will convene a summit this weekend to try to defuse a bloody three-month showdown in neighbouring Congo Brazzaville.

KINSHASA - Nightly shooting and looting is becoming commonplace in Goma in the east of the former Zaire and guerrilla activity is increasing in nearby border areas.

BANGUI - Central African Republic`s government has given its nationals until September 30 to hand in all weapons and ammunition.

BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jacques Santer said economic and monetary union (EMU) would start on time in 1999 and called for an end to the "diatribe of doubt" against the project.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to tell him to root out the "terrorism" threatening his chances of peace with Israel.

PARIS - The mother of Princess Diana`s driver complained he was being unfairly vilified for the fatal accident in Paris and denied he was alcoholic or depressive. The investigation focused on driver Henri Paul after tests showed he had taken an anti-depressant, another drug used to calm aggression and was three times over the legal drunk-drive limit.

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto reshuffled his cabinet, retaining Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka but appointing new trade and foreign minister.

PARIS - Algerian security forces have killed Armed Islamic Group (GIA) leader Antar Zouabri and 78 of his men in an operation south of Algiers, the Al Khabar newspaper said.

BEIJING - The United States and North Korea have agreed to resume preliminary talks to forge a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, despite Pyongyang`s anger over a high-level defection, a South Korean diplomat said.

MOSCOW - A group of armed men abducted the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Russia`s North Caucasus region of Ingushetia and his deputy.

BELFAST - The IRA said it would not hand over weapons until an overall Northern Ireland political settlement is agreed. A spokesman for the Irish Republican Army said the organisation "would have problems" with sections of the so-called Mitchell Principles of non-violence which their political arm signed up to on Monday.

KABUL - Rival Afghan factions fought for control of the northern opposition capital of Mazar-i-Sharif for a third day as gunmen kept up a looting spree.

BEIJING - China`s 15th Communist Party congress, which opens on Friday, is to enshrine the theories of reformist revolutionary Deng Xiaoping and legitimise a daring plan for the mass sell-off of most state enterprises.

HAVANA - Cuba said it was holding a former Salvadorean soldier who had confessed to carrying out bomb attacks on the island and it accused a Cuban exile group in Miami of being behind the bombings campaign.

TOKYO - U.S.-Japan trade relations are worsening and it is "imperative" that Tokyo deregulate its economy to stimulate growth and address troubling trade surplus trends.