BRUSSELS, Dec. 5  -- The European Union has agreed to have 10 percent of its vehicle fuels sourced with renewable fuels by 2020 in spite of warnings from scientists.

Scientists have said that turning forests or grasslands into farmland to make up for acreage lost to biofuel production undermines the claim that biofuels is a clean source of energy, Deutsche Welle reported Friday.

But an agreement between the European Parliament, the European Commission and European Union member states, upholds the 10 percent target proposed in January, as the three parties agreed to count non-food source biofuels twice.

TEHRAN, Dec. 5  -- Claims made by the United Arab Emirates that were anti-Iranian in nature were ill-advised, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday.

The Iranian official slammed the Arab federation for supporting the policies of the United States and Britain regarding Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

ACCRA, Ghana, Dec. 5  -- The upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana will feature a number of close electoral races, public opinion polls indicate.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- Participants in a bailout hearing Friday debated whether the Big Three U. S. automakers should seek bankruptcy protection before accepting federal aid.

Edward Altman, a New York University finance professor, advocated Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for General Motors Corp., arguing before the House Financial Services Committee that the troubled automaker would not survive unless it became a debtor in protection.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 5  -- A roadside bomb in Afghanistan killed three Canadian soldiers and seriously injured two others Friday near Kandahar, military officials said.

The troops were on patrol in an armored vehicle around 9 a. m. when they hit the device, U. S. Maj. Gen. Michael Tucker, the deputy chief of staff of U. S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, told reporters in a teleconference call.

The deaths are the first for the new rotation of Canadian troops, who arrived in Kandahar in September, a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. correspondent reported.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- U. S. President George Bush reiterated Friday his pledge that the United States would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

"We have made our bottom-line clear. For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said in remarks prepared for the Saban Forum in Washington.

Bush said he looks forward to "a Middle East where our friends are strengthened and the extremists are discredited, where economies are open and prosperity is widespread, and where all people enjoy the life of liberty ... ."