World Briefs

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – An Israeli official says the Security Cabinet will vote Saturday night on whether to accept an Egyptian proposal for a truce to end the fighting in Gaza.

The senior government official says a decision to approve the truce would begin a phased process in which Israel stops fighting and gauges the reaction from Hamas militants. The official says that under this process, Israel would resume its offensive if the militants continue to fire rockets at Israel.

The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The security Cabinet has 12 members.

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar and Mauritania suspended contacts with Israel to protest the Gaza bloodshed at an Arab summit Friday that deepened the divisions between pro-U.S. Arab nations and their rivals in the Middle East.

U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia led a boycott of the gathering in the Qatari capital, which the Gulf nation had called to take a united stance over the Gaza violence but which ended up being dominated by backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a top Hamas supporter, made a surprise appearance, along with Hamas' Syria-based political chief Khaled Mashaal. They called for Arab and Muslim nations to cut any bilateral ties they have with Israel.

GONAIVES, Haiti – More than 150,000 people are surviving on donated food in the flood-battered city of Gonaives and the U.N. says more aid is urgently needed to stave off famine in parts of Haiti four months after ravaging storms.

Families are repairing mud-caked homes and markets have reopened, but the storms endangered a country already struggling with chronic malnutrition.

"What we are going to do now, from January onward, is to support the vulnerable people, to support the children so they keep growing healthy," U.N. World Food Program country director Myrta Kaulard said Thursday during a tour of affected areas.

MONTERREY, Mexico – Four teenagers say police in a northern Mexican town spray-painted their hair, shoes and buttocks to teach them not to paint graffiti on public property.

Emilio Alfaro of Nuevo Leon state's Human Rights Commission said the youths have filed a complaint alleging that police in Guadalupe slapped, kicked and painted them with spray cans after detaining them for vandalism.

The youths are aged between 14 and 16. They presented paint-stained shoes and photos of their painted heads as evidence.

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