CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC):

Eastern Caribbean countries have embarked on a common fuel pricing policy which is expected to see them immediately passing on any changes in world market prices to consumers.

According to a statement released yesterday from the office of St. Lucia Prime Minister, Dr. Kenny Anthony, member-countries of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank have all agreed to adjust prices of petroleum products through the implementation of a full pass-through pricing mechanism.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP):

People in a hillside slum of the Haitian capital fled their homes yesterday to escape fierce fighting between rival gangs in an area where authorities say at least 30 people have been killed over the past two months.

Families streamed away from Grand Ravine with mattresses, clothing and whatever else they could recover from their houses - many of which had been set on fire by gangs from neighbouring slums.

Most of the homes in Grand Ravine, home to several thousand people, appeared abandoned, with their tin roofs and concrete block walls blackened from fires that witnesses said were set by gangs. In one house, blood was smeared on the door and on the floor inside.

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters):

Gunmen shot dead a Somali minister outside a mosque yesterday, triggering riots by pro-government protesters who threw rocks and burned tyres at the interim administration's provincial base of Baidoa.

Witnesses said assailants opened fire on Constitution and Federalism Minister Abdallah Deerow Isaq as he left prayers - an attack sure to heighten tensions in the violence-plagued Horn of Africa nation which many fear is sliding towards war.

FRESNO, California (AP):

The death toll from California's record-breaking heat wave reached 132 yesterday, the first day in nearly two weeks that temperatures were expected to stay below 100 degrees (38 Celsius) across most of the U.S. state.