Harare  - Zimbabwe's parliament Thursday passed a constitutional amendment bill that clears some of the remaining hurdles to the formation of a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition next week.

The amendment creates the post of prime minister for Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided Thursday to send an envoy to assess first-hand the "tense political situation" in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.

Haile Menkerios, a UN assistant secretary general for political affairs, will "assess the situation in the country and explore what the United Nations could do to help avert further violence and contribute to peace and stability in Madagascar."

Menkerios will visit the country from Saturday to Wednesday for meetings with government officials, the UN said. Menkerios was sent to Zimbabwe last year to help resolve the political crisis.

Tel Aviv - For the first time since its recent military action against Gaza, Israel has given the go-ahead for a cash delivery into the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reports said Thursday.

They said 175 million shekels (33 million euros) would be transferred from the West Bank to banks in the Gaza Strip in order to pay around 70,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The reports said Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had authorised the delivery against the opposition of Foreign Minister Zipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

London  - The destruction caused to the Gaza Strip in last month's Israeli campaign will cost 15 billion dollars to repair, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in London Thursday.

Abbas, who was speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said that despite the bitterness and fighting there was "no alternative to peace" in the Middle East.

Brown pledged Britain's support for the reconstruction of Gaza, and urged Israel to allow aid to get through to the victims of the conflict.

Brussels  - The European Union warned Russia Thursday not to go ahead with its plans to build up a military presence in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying they would jeopardize stability and security.

"The EU would consider the implementation of such plans to be a serious violation of the principle of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, to which the EU is strongly committed," the Czech presidency of the EU said in a statement issued on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states.

Geneva  - Countries split largely along political and economic lines Thursday when Cuba was reviewed at the United Nations on its human rights record.

Many developing nations praised Havana, focusing on its strong health system and overseas medical missions and condemning the United States' embargo on the island.

They also commended Cuba for being among the only developing nations fully on track to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals.