moratorium

. The Palestinians were refusing to participate in peace talks while building continued. A second American official said the administration had determined that the moratorium extension was not the best basis to resume talks. But it's unclear how the US is planning to proceed now.

World News from the BBC

A bomb blast in the Indian city of Varanasi has killed a girl and injured at least 30 other people. Police say a small,

improvised

bomb in a milk canister exploded on one of the ghats, the stone staircases which allow worshippers to

descend

to the River Ganges to bathe. The Islamic militant group, Indian Mujahideen, says it carried out the attack.

An investigation into the cholera epidemic in Haiti is reported to have blamed United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal. The study by a French medical professor has been submitted to the French government and the UN. Barbara Plett reports from the UN in New York.

Reports say the French disease expert concludes the most likely explanation for the cholera epidemic is contamination from a base of UN Nepalese troops, located on the river system where the epidemic broke out. A UN spokesman called this "one report among many" on the topic and said the mission in Haiti has neither accepted nor dismissed the findings, but he said it is taking them seriously and will follow up on any additional information,

consult

ing with a broad range of specialists. Accusations against the peacekeepers led to violent demonstrations in Haiti last month, but the UN continues to say there is no scientific evidence they brought cholera to the country.