The White House has struck a deal with Republican leaders in the US Senate ending a week-long dispute over the interrogation and treatment of terror suspects. The agreement was reached following a meeting between the National Security Advisor Steven Hadley and Republican Senators who feared that legislation proposed by the Bush administration failed to protect the rights of detainees. Correspondents say Republicans need to appear united in order to retain the majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections. President George Bush welcomed the agreement.

I'm pleased to say that this agreement preserves the most single most potent tool we have in protecting American and foiling terrorist attacks. And that is the CIA program to question the world's most dangerous terrorists and to get their secrets. The measure also creates military commissions that will bring these ruthless killers to justice. In short, the agreement clears the way to do what the American people expect us to do, to capture terrorists, to detain terrorists, to question terrorists and then to try them.

The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has won a bigger government contract to install advanced surveillance equipment on the border with Mexico. The initiative is part of President Bush's plan to overhaul border security, which is a major political issue in the US. Here's our American editor Simon W.

With more than 1 million people entering America illegally every year, President Bush is under pressure to get tough. As well as hiring more agents, the US government wants to install what's being called an invisible fence on the long and porous border with Mexico. Boeing is proposing a network of towers equipped with cameras with a range of up to 14 kilometers as well as advanced movement censors. The contract also involves unmanned surveillance aircraft and only equipment will be linked up to an improved communication system.

The United Nations Special investigator on torture Manfred Nowak has said torture in Iraq may be worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein. He said religious militias, terrorist groups and some Iraqi government forces all operated with no regard for basic human rights. Based on interviews conducted in Jordan, Mr. Nowak said there was substantive evidence of torture inside official Iraqi government detention centers.

The authorities in Indonesia, the world's most popular Muslim nation, have executed three Christians who were convicted of inciting lethal attacks on Muslims. The three men were shot by firing squad in the province of central Sulawesi. They were sentenced to death five years ago after being found guilty of leading a mob attacking a Muslim school. Between 1999 and 2001, more than 1, 000 people died in fighting between Christians and Muslims in Sulawesi. The executed men's lawyer said he has received confirmation of the men's deaths.

They've already been executed at around midnight 45 local time. The authorities didn't tell us anything before all after the execution. I got the confirmation from my sources. This shows this country is very ruthless. My clients have faced injustice.

Police in Nigeria have imposed an overnight curfew in the northern state of * and arrested 25 youths after violence erupted between Muslims and Christians in the state capital *. At least 6 churches were set on fire and many Christians have taken shelter in police barracks. A L reports from Lagos.

The disturbance, it seems sparked by a disagreement between a Muslim man and a Christian woman in the market. Rumor spread that the woman had blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammed. As a crowd gathered, riot police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators which plotted groups of youth to go through the town, attacking and looting shops and burning some church buildings. Despite the religious venial, such disturbance tempted to be less about religion, more about poor or unemployed youth seeing an opportunity to loot.

The British aid charity Oxfam says world's spending on weapons is now higher in real time than it was during the cold war. In a report Oxfam estimates more than 1, 000 billion dollars will be spent on arms this year. 15 times the amount devoted to international aid. Most of the spending, it says, is by the United States and Middle Eastern countries.

United Nations has proposed a radical shake-up in the way development had reaches Africa. It said the money going through a hosted independent organizations. It wants the cash goes through a single channel managed by the UN.