Sao Paulo - Developing countries need a greater say in the global economy, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Saturday.

"Developing country participation in (international) decision- making mechanisms needs to be strengthened," he said in his opening speech before a two-day summit of representative of the G20 nations. The meeting is to prepare for a global financial summit next weekend in Washington.

Dhaka - Reported troop movements near the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, apparently resulting from a disagreement over offshore oil and gas rights, have ramped up tensions in the area.

Border forces along the Bangladeshi south-eastern border with Myanmar's Rakhain state were put on red alert Saturday after reports of Myanmar troop deployment on the other side of the border.

Dusseldorf - New Argentina coach Diego Maradona has an ambitious plan for his side: he wants to win the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"That is the issue, is it not? If that is not my goal, then I might as well have stayed at home and spent some time watching television," he was quoted in Saturday's issue of the Cologne-based newspaper Express.

Maradona captained Argentina to their last World Cup triumph in 1986, when the South Americans beat Germany 3-2 in the final.

Sharm el-Sheikh - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday to take part in Sunday's Quartet meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort.

Rice is expected to meet her Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Abul Gheit later in the evening.

Rice comes to Egypt after her two-day visit to Israel and Jordan where she discussed peace talks with leaders of both countries.

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - With an admitted US failure to make Middle East peace a reality before the end of this year as promised by the now outgoing US President George W Bush, the international Quartet on the Middle East is meeting on Sunday with Palestinian and Israeli delegations in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The ministerial-level Quartet will hear from both the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on what blocked the anticipated peace deal.

Tel Aviv/Gaza - Israeli soldiers and militant Palestinians clashed briefly in the Gaza Strip border area on Saturday, amid conflicting accounts of where the clash took place.

Both the military and local Gaza eyewitness accounts agreed there was an exchange of fire when Israeli soldiers arrived at the border fence to carry out controlled detonations of explosive devices.

But an Israeli army spokeswoman, while confirming the exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants, denied that the incident took place on Gaza territory.