World briefs 1/22/07

Palestinian leaders fail to agree on coalition

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the exiled chief of the rival Hamas faction failed Sunday night to resolve their differences over forming a unity government, dashing hopes for a quick end to deadly clashes between their supporters. But Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said in a statement that they "achieved major progress" during the meeting -- their first since July 2005 -- and hoped to resume talks within two weeks. "There are still points of disagreement, but we will try to resolve them through a national dialogue until we form a national unity government," Mashaal said during a joint news conference with Abbas in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The two sides stressed that recent Palestinian fighting, which has killed at least 62 people, was unacceptable and pledged to exert efforts to avoid political friction. "Palestinian bloodshed was considered totally prohibited, and we must exert all efforts to avoid frictions and internal clashes," Abbas said.

Lawmakers seek Guantanamo alternative

LONDON -- A panel of British lawmakers urged the government Sunday to work with the United States to develop an alternative to holding terror suspects at Guantanamo -- aiming to speed up the closure of the much-criticized U.S. military prison. The Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee released a report that also called for an overhaul of the Geneva Conventions and suggesting Prime Minister Tony Blair lead efforts to update the international standards to reflect the challenge of terrorism. "The international community as a whole needs to shoulder its responsibility in finding a longer-term solution" to the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo, the report said. "We recommend that the government engage actively with the U.S. administration and with the international community to assist the process of closing Guantanamo as soon as may be consistent with the overriding need to protect the public from terrorist threats."

-- From wire reports