La Paz  - Bolivia's President Evo Morales and opposition governors from four provinces Thursday launched a round of talks seeking to pacify growing unrest in the troubled eastern crescent of the Andean nation that has centred on income from natural gas and on provincial autonomy.

Clashes between government supporters and the opposition claimed an estimated 15 lives in Pando last week as angry opponents of Morales occupied national telephone and tax collection offices and cut off gas line feeds to Brazil.

Geneva - South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu Thursday levelled sharp criticism at Israel over its bombardment two years ago of Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, which killed 19 Palestinian civilians.

Tutu, in a report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on the incident, accused Israel of a lack of cooperation in the inquiry and demanded it pay compensation to families of those killed in what he said could be classed as a war crime.

Washington  - US President George W Bush on Thursday defended the "extraordinary measures" taken by the government to address a growing financial crisis and sought to reassure investors leading a sell-off on Wall Street in the past week.

Speaking after an emergency White House meeting with his economic advisors, Bush promised the government would continue taking necessary actions "to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve investor confidence."

Tel Aviv  - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is leading over her main rival, Shaul Mofaz, in the primaries of Israel's ruling Kadima party, first results show.

With some 10 per cent of the votes counted by midnight, Livni stands at 53.1 per cent of the vote, against 31.7 for Transportation Minister Mofaz.

The other two candidates, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, have thus far obtained 10.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent of the vote respectively, Israel Radio reported.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) finance ministers on Wednesday approved proposals to set up a monetary union, but the timing of the launch of a single currency was not revealed.

"We have an agreement to set up the monetary union and the monetary council, as well as the basic structure," Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal, who chaired the meeting of GCC countries in the Western Saudi city of Jeddah, told reporters.

Tel Aviv  - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has overwhelmingly won Wednesday's primaries in the ruling Kadima party, giving her a good chance of becoming Israel's next prime minister and the second woman ever to run the country, exit polls predicted.

Livni won between 47 and 49 per cent of the vote, according to three independent exit polls broadcast by Israel's Channel 2, Channel 10 and Channel 1 State Television stations.

Her main rival, hawkish Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, obtained 37 per cent of the vote, all three polls predicted.