Prague  - Czechs continue to reject US plans for building a missile defence radar base on Czech Republic soil, according to an opinion poll released Thursday, less than three weeks before US President Barack Obama's planned visit to Prague.

The regular survey by the state-funded CVVM polling institute, conducted in early February, said that 70 per cent of the 1,113 polled Czechs opposed the base, while 25 per cent backed it. Five per cent were undecided.

Brussels  - European Union leaders were close to clinching a deal on the use of 5 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) in community funds to stimulate the economy after Germany received assurances that the money would be spent by the end of 2010, sources close to the talks said Thursday.

A compromise text by the EU's Czech presidency, seen by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, states that "due to the urgent need for the stimulus, all legal commitments implementing the budgetary commitments ... should be made before the end of 2010."

Johannesburg  - The Southern African Development Community on Thursday rejected Andry Rajoelina as Madagascar's interim president, saying the manner of his coming to power was "unconstitutional" and called on the international community to follow suit.

The 15-country regional economic grouping, of which Madagascar is a member, met in Swaziland to discuss Rajoelina's bloodless army- backed ouster of Marc Ravalomanana from the presidency this week.

Amman  - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to visit Jordan on Friday as part of ongoing efforts to repair pan-Arab ties which received a deep blow during the recent Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, the royal court announced Thursday.

Discussions between al-Assad and Jordan's King Abdullah II would focus on "ongoing efforts aimed at working out a unified Arab stand versus common challenges," the royal court said in a statement.

Gaza City/Cairo  - Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum announced on Thursday that the Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo to flesh out the contours of a national unity government had concluded the first round of talks after nine days of intense negotiations.

Barhoum, in a statement released in the Egyptian capital, said that leaders of 13 Palestinian factions, including Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, would leave Cairo for consultations with other faction leaders.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend next week in Moscow a conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, called to discuss Afghanistan's growing threat to regional security, the UN said Thursday.

The Moscow conference on March 27 "will focus on the impact that the situation in Afghanistan is having on its neighbouring states," the UN said.