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Paris - The organizers of the Tour de France said Thursday they would not allow 2005 world road race champion Tom Boonen to take part in this year's race because he tested positive for cocaine.

"Tom Boonen's image and behaviour are incompatible with the image of the Tour de France," the Amaury Sports Orgainzation said in a statement issued in Paris.

Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Thursday the State Department will begin providing benefits for the same-sex partners of foreign service employees.

Clinton's order comes one day after President Barack Obama issued a memorandum declaring that domestic partners of federal employees are eligible for government benefits.

Obama has been under pressure from the gay community to improve rights for gays and has been criticized for failing to quickly repeal the Clinton-era "don't ask-don't tell" policy for serving in the military.

Washington - US weapons are fueling Mexico's drug violence in a deadly trade of drug money for arms, according to a report released by the US government on Thursday.

"About 87 per cent of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the United States," according to a report by the investigative arm of the US Congress.

The report, prepared by the Government Accountability Office (GAO,) cited figures from the Department of Justice's bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives

Gaza - The Gaza-ruling Hamas movement Thursday ruled out a deal with the rival Fatah party by a July 7 deadline as President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah security forces continue a crackdown on Hamas' West Bank members.

However Ismail el-Ashqar, Hamas member on the joint reconciliation committee which held two separate meetings this week, told reporters in Gaza that despite the ongoing arrests, the committee would continue meeting.

Brussels - European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels set 30 October as the deadline to decide how the bloc should share the bill for fighting climate change in poor states, diplomats said.

After a brief discussion, the heads of the EU's 27 governments approved a draft statement that they were "prepared ... to take the appropriate decisions on all aspects of
(climate change) financing at (the EU's) October meeting," diplomatic sources said.

London - Rafael Nadal's chances of defending his Wimbledon title were looking grim Thursday after the world number one was beaten 6-4, 6-3 in an exhibition match by Lleyton Hewitt.

Nadal, who lost to Robin Soderling at the French Open due in part to tendinitis in his right knee, appeared to be far from his best on the grass at Hurlingham club at the unofficial pre-Wimbledon tune-up.