Frankfurt  - German book publishers on Thursday denounced this week's historic accord between Google and US authors, dubbing it "a Trojan Horse" which would make the US company the master of the world's knowledge.

Google, which has scanned 7 million books to include their contents in its internet search engine, announced Tuesday it would let US users read the pages of books that are out of print but are still in copyright.

Under the settlement with the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, royalties will be paid for past and future use of the books by Google.

Gaza - Extending an olive branch to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of unity talks in Cairo next month, the Islamic Hamas movement released 17 members of the president's Fatah movement it had detained in the Gaza Strip in July.

The 17 were among dozens of Fatah activists arrested by Hamas police after a car bomb killed five Hamas members in Western Gaza City in late July.

Stockholm - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hosted Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday, and discussed the fallout of the recent war between Georgia and Russia.

Reinfeldt noted that Sweden has pledged large sums to Georgia and contributed personnel to a European Union monitoring team.

The Swedish premier told reporters that Stockholm did not feel Russia had fulfilled all the terms in agreements signed after the August war between the Caucasus nation and Russia.

Vatican City - Secret Vatican archives on Pope Pius XII's controversial World War II pontificate will not be made public for at least another "six or seven years," the papal spokesman said Thursday.

"Before then, it is unrealistic to think (they) will be made accessible to researchers," Father Federico Lombardi was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.