The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is in talks with "all those concerned" in Syria's conflict to negotiate a ceasefire.

The group says it wants to negotiate a truce in the most affected areas to allow it to deliver aid packages.

Correspondents say the fact that the ICRC has spoken publicly about the negotiations shows just how concerned it is by the situation in Syria.

Thousands have died there in an 11-month uprising against the government.

ICRC spokesman Bijan Farnoudi said the group was "discussing several possibilities" to enable humanitarian aid to be delivered.

He said the aim of the discussions was "to facilitate swift Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC access to the people in need."

Last month, the Muslim Brotherhood received a phone call from the International Monetary Fund. Egypt was hurtling toward economic collapse, and IMF officials had decided they couldn't push ahead with a $3.2 billion loan without buy-in from the country's new political heavyweights.

After 80 years as an underground movement with many members in jail, the Brotherhood found itself at a historic moment. Its decision would likely make or break a loan package believed vital by many Western officials and by Egypt's own business community.

There has been deep distrust in Egypt of the IMF, fueled by a general suspicion of Western meddling and foreign invasions in the 18th and 19th centuries to collect debts. Many Egyptians believe that the Western-style economic reforms of recent years enriched a handful of wealthy regime cronies and did little for regular people.

Yet the Brotherhood recently ended up giving tentative approval to the $3.2 billion IMF loan. "All of a sudden, we found ourselves for the first time and after a very, very short learning process, asked to take a position that would affect everybody's lives," said Essam al-Haddad, the Brotherhood's new senior adviser on foreign affairs.

Israel's High Court is slated to hear an urgent petition on Tuesday in the case of a Palestinian detained without charge who has been on a hunger strike for two months.

The hearing had first been scheduled for Thursday but his lawyers and human rights groups representing the hospitalized 33-year-old detainee, Khader Adnan, were worried that he would not survive that long.

Mr. Adnan's case challenges a decades-old Israeli practice employed almost exclusively against Palestinians, thousands of whom have been detained by military court orders under similar circumstances for months and even years. He is already being hailed a hero in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr. Adnan is not the first Palestinian to have gone on a hunger strike, but his -- 66 days long as of Monday -- has proven the most enduring. A medical report prepared last week by an Israeli-accredited doctor on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and filed along with the petition to speed his hearing at the High Court, stated that Mr. Adnan was "in immediate danger of death" and that "a fast in excess of 70 days does not permit survival."

The United States is stepping up efforts to dissuade Israel from attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, with a strong public warning by the US military's most senior figure and the dispatch of two high-ranking officials to Jerusalem.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said in a television interview that it was "not prudent at this point" to attack Iran, and "a strike at this time would be destabilising".

But in a comment likely to fuel speculation about Israel's military plans, he added: "I wouldn't suggest we've persuaded them that our view is the correct view." The two countries were having a "candid, collaborative conversation" which was continuing, he said.

His concerns were echoed by William Hague, the British foreign secretary, who said it was "not a wise thing at this moment" for Israel to launch military action against Iran.

Senegalese are continuing their protests against incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade's decision to seek a third term in office, erecting barricades and pelting police with rocks just days before a presidential election.

The state-owned news service confirmed the death on Monday of a young man in a suburb of the capital Dakar as demonstrations intensified, and the opposition said they would organise more protests.

Several people have been killed since the street clashes began late last month after Wade's candidacy was validated by the country's top legal body.

The 85-year-old Wade, who came to power in 2000, is insisting on running again, despite the deepening unrest and calls from both France, Senegal's former colonial master, and the US to hand power to the next generation.

Wade will face more than a dozen rivals in the election, including former allies Macky Sall and Idrissa Seck. A runoff will be held if no candidate wins more than half the total vote.

"We will not give Abdoulaye Wade any rest until he understands that he can't run in these elections.," Tidiane Gadio, an opposition candidate, told Al Jazeera.

"The people of Senegal and the leadership of the opposition have the resolve to prevent him from running in these elections."

An unauthorized addition to a luxury house may be sinking the hopes of the man thought to be China's favorite to be Hong Kong's next leader.

Henry Tang, a former senior government official, is facing increasing pressure to end his campaign to become chief executive, Hong Kong's top government position.

Long seen as the candidate favored by Beijing, Mr. Tang has seen his popularity plummet over months of missteps, capped last week when he acknowledged that structures built at his wife's home did not have government approval. Mr. Tang insists on continuing his candidacy, but the unauthorized construction, a favorite topic in local media coverage of public figures, was seized on by his political opponents.

"I don't think he can hope to salvage his credibility," said Alan Leong of the Civic Party. "If he can't handle his own affairs, how can he run a government?"

But one thing shines through to me as perhaps the most significant part of the whole media storm: You have a hard-right Republican, with intense political ambitions outed as gay and accused of serious abuse of office. He vigorously denies the charges but says, Yeah, I'm gay. And by the way, I support gay marriage and I also think that gays should be able to serve openly in the US military.

Given what was contained in the original story, it's not like Babeu had a great deal of choice about disclosing his sexuality. But then that hasn't stopped others from trying. No comical denials (a la Larry Craig), no slinking off into a shamed obscurity (a la too many sad stories to mention). Just, yeah, I'm gay. And I'm still running for office.

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the release of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian detained without charge, who has been on hunger strike for more than nine weeks, his lawyer said.