In Brief Bush promise

WASHINGTON – President George W Bush has called for a Middle East peace conference later this year and pledged renewed support for the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

China hurt * BEIJING – A Veteran Tibetan Communist has accused government hawks of closing the door on dialogue with the Dalai Lama and misleading the Chinese leadership about exiled Buddhist god-king’s unfading influence, sources say. 85 killed * BAGHDAD – At least 85 people were killed by a suicide truck bomb in the volatile Iraqi city of Kirkuk, some of them trapped on a bus where they burned to death.Russia refuses * UNITED NATIONS – Russia has given a definitive ‘no’ to a European-US draft resolution on Kosovo that would end a UN presence and put European representatives in charge of the Serbian province.Potter * Publisher Bloomsbury PLC said yesterday it had cancelled shipments of the new Harry Potter book to one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains in a dispute over unpaid bills.Bloomsbury said it had cancelled delivery of 500 000 copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ to Asda.Nampa-Reuters85 killed * BAGHDAD – At least 85 people were killed by a suicide truck bomb in the volatile Iraqi city of Kirkuk, some of them trapped on a bus where they burned to death.Russia refuses * UNITED NATIONS – Russia has given a definitive ‘no’ to a European-US draft resolution on Kosovo that would end a UN presence and put European representatives in charge of the Serbian province.Potter * Publisher Bloomsbury PLC said yesterday it had cancelled shipments of the new Harry Potter book to one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains in a dispute over unpaid bills.Bloomsbury said it had cancelled delivery of 500 000 copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ to Asda.Nampa-Reuters