Washington - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Wednesday said he plans to shift some of the focus of the second half of the government's massive financial rescue action to credit card and loan companies and shelve original plans to buy up bad mortgage assets from finance firms.

He also dismissed a proposal that the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan should be used to bail out the ailing auto industry.

Paulson said that the first half of the rescue programme, or 350 billion dollars, had prevented "broad systemic" damage to a financial system that had been on the "tipping point," but warned the financial system "remains fragile" and needs broader help.

Prague/Dublin - Czech leaders Wednesday sought to downplay Czech President Vaclav Klaus' meeting with Ireland's leading opponent of the Lisbon Treaty, which spurred a diplomatic row ahead of the Czech Republic's EU presidency.

"I find it legitimate when someone presents his opinion. And I respect it even if I have a completely different view," said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who supports the EU reform pact.

Czech Vice-Premier for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra said that "one dinner can't undermine the Czech presidency, which the government has responsibly prepared for two years."

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Another school building partially collapsed Wednesday in Haiti, less than a week after a school crumbled leaving more than 90 people dead.

Eyewitnesses said a building adjoining the Grace Divine (Divine Grace) school in the Canape Vert neighbourhood of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince collapsed, falling onto the school itself.

According to preliminary reports, eight people - seven adults and one child - were injured and had to be taken to hospital.

On Friday, at least 93 people, most of them children, died in the collapse of Evangelical Promise school in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Some 160 others were injured and many more remained missing.

Cairo - At least 32 African migrants were shot dead by Egyptian guards since June 2007, while Israel has forcibly returned at least 139 border crossers to Egypt, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.

In the 90-page report, "Sinai Perils: Risks to Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Egypt and Israel," the rights group called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment.

It also urged Israel to halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin.

Baghdad - An Iraqi soldier on Wednesday killed four US soldiers and wounded three others after an altercation west of the town of Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Zagreb - The European Union's top official for enlargement urged Croatia on Wednesday to fight organized crime and corruption in order to finish talks on joining the EU by the end of 2009.