WORLD briefs

NEW YORK.The attorney for Michael Jackson's mother says an announcement is imminent on a custody deal regarding the pop icon's two oldest children, but stopped short of saying an agreement had been reached.

L. Londell McMillan said in an interview with The Associated Press that word of an agreement between Katherine Jackson and Deborah Rowe, the biological mother of Prince Michael, 12, and Paris-Michael, 10, would come sometime Thursday.

WASHINGTON. With polls showing public support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform waning, Senate negotiators hit another snag on Thursday when a key Finance Committee Republican said the panel would not be ready to vote until September.

Republican Michael Enzi, one of six senators on the panel trying to strike a bipartisan deal, told reporters the measure to lower healthcare costs and expand coverage to the uninsured would not be ready for a vote before a month-long August recess begins next week.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria. Security forces hunted door-to-door for Islamic militants in northern Nigeria on Thursday after storming the compound of a radical sect and killing more than 100 people.

A top rights group said the government forces had killed bystanders and other civilians.

NAIROBI, Kenya. Kenya President Mwai Kibaki says the government will use the judiciary to try the suspected perpetrators of postelection violence last year that killed more than 1,000 people.

Kibaki says the government will accelerate reforms in the judiciary, police and investigative bodies to ensure credible trials.

OCOTAL, Nicaragua. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says disgruntled military officers could rebel "at any moment" against the government installed in a coup.

Zelaya says he has information that some soldiers and officers are "repudiating the way in which the military leadership is directing the armed forces."

VERACRUZ, Mexico. Gunmen shot up and torched the home of a Mexican police commander Wednesday, killing the officer as well as his family.