The Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he will propose lifting United Nations sanctions against some Taliban leaders at an international conference on Afghanistan in London later this week. He said he believed his western allies backed his plans for

reconciliation

with those Taliban who were not allied with al-Qaeda. Mr Karzai was speaking in Turkey where he and the Pakistani president were holding talks on how to tackle the Taliban insurgency.

The Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr says the Ethiopian plane that crashed off the coast of the country earlier today with 90 people on board was probably brought down by bad weather. It took off during a heavy storm. The search has been going on in the Mediterranean since the crash. More than 20 bodies have been recovered so far. Ethiopia has, meanwhile, declared a national day of mourning. / reports from Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia's Communications Minister Bereket Simon says the government will bring back the bodies of every Ethiopian who was on the plane that crashed. And the board of Ethiopian Airlines has been meeting for most of the day to

work out

their response and how best to support the families of the passengers. While Lebanon has

ruled out

any foul play, authorities here in Ethiopia say they want it with a

conclusive

report on the cause of the crash.

Some news just in, participants at the conference on reconstructing Haiti after the devastating earthquake have agreed to organize a donors' conference in March.