good-will gesture

a day ahead of talks with South Sudan in neighboring Ethiopia under African Union mediation.

A fire at a shopping mall in the Qatari capital Doha has killed at least 19 people. It's believed the fire started at a nursery. Caroline Hawley reports.

Official say the fire broke out at the Gympanzee nursery on the first floor of the vast shopping mall. Emergency services had to break through the roof to reach the children who'd been trapped when a staircase collapsed. But the firefighters were too late to save seven young girls and six boys who died with four of their teachers. Questions have been asked about safety procedures at the popular Italian-theme shopping mall, which builds itself as the largest family entertainment destination in Doha.

Some news just in. Fire has broken out at a campaign office in Cairo of the presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq. Television pictures showed a sizable

blaze

, but there's no indication so far of the cause. Details are still coming in. Mr Shafiq, the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, is one of the two men confirmed to fight a runoff election next month.

Two Israeli police officers have been convicted of

negligent homicide

over the death of a Palestinian man whom they abandoned by the side of the road even though he was seriously injured. The policemen had taken custody of Omar Abu Jariban who'd crashed the stolen car several weeks earlier. He'd been treated in hospital, but was still in a weak physical state. The senior of the two policemen ordered him to be dumped by the road where he died.