News in Brief

Palestinians have condemned the Jerusalem municipality's decision to allow a settlement for Jews in the heart of Arab-East Jerusalem as a declaration of war. The Israeli government says the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is trying to stop the project going ahead.

The American Transport Secretary, Rodney Slater, has said the United States will help Africa build infrastructure to promote development and to improve trade across the Atlantic. He was speaking on the final day of a meeting of Africans and black Americans in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. The gathering brought together several thousand delegates and 10 African heads of state to discuss ways of boosting links between the two continents.

The authorities in Serbia have announced that new presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on September 21. The announcement came shortly after a meeting of the outgoing Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, and an opposition leader, Vuk Draskovic. Mr Milosevic, who is now President of the Yugoslav Federation of Serbia and Montenegro, is said to have told Mr Draskovic that Serbian opposition parties would have improved access to the media for the elections.

The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, has attempted to improve his image in the West by starting a Web site. The site - which is hosted in neighbouring Jordan - contains photographs and the full text of his recent speech to commemorate the Baathist seizure of power in 1968.