Berlin - Germans must act against racism in general and anti-Semitism in particular, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday, a day before Germany marks a 1938 pogrom against Jewish residents.

Ceremonies were to be held Sunday to recall Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, when Nazis smashed up Jewish-owned shops, burned or ransacked synagogues and killed 91 people throughout Germany, according to the official toll.

Cairo, Gaza - Egypt announced on Saturday that crucial reconciliation talks between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah scheduled for Monday are to be postponed.

The decision came after Hamas officially told Cairo that it will not take part in the meetings, the Egyptian state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

In the Gaza Strip, the local Ramattan news agency quoted Palestinian officials as saying Egypt had informed them that the dialogue meeting was being postponed.

New Delhi  - Five persons were killed and at least three critically injured on Saturday in an explosion at a waste dump in the northern Indian town of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh state, police said.

A group of waste collectors were sorting out rubbish in the Bengali Basti area when a mortar shell discarded by the army exploded, senior police official Raghuveer Lal said.

The victims were boys aged between 10 and 19, the police said. The three injured had been admitted to hospital.

Jakarta - Three Indonesian Muslim militants sitting on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings may face execution by firing squad Saturday night or early Sunday, the condemned mens' lawyer said Saturday.

"Most possibly, the execution will be carried out tonight or at dawn," Mahendradatta, chairman of the team of attorneys for the three men, was quoted as saying by detik. com online news service on Saturday.

Kabul - At least 35 militants including two rebel commanders were killed in separate clashes with Afghan and coalition forces, and 14 others were detained, officials said Saturday.

Two commanders were among 20 militants killed in a fight with Afghan ground forces and an airstrike by NATO forces in the Aab Band district of southern Ghazni province on Friday, Asmail Jahangir, spokesman for the provincial governor said.

Taipei - Hailing recent protests against a Chinese envoy, Taiwan opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that Taiwan's future must be decided by referendum, not by China.

Referring to talks last week between the leadership of the self- governing island and its massive neighbour, Tsai, chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), blasted President Ma Ying-jeou for kowtowing to the envoy, Chen Yunlin.

Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, Tsai said that more than 100,000 people besieged the venue where Ma of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, was meeting Chen on Thursday.