KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan security forces knew Taliban militants were planning an offensive near the southern city of Kandahar last week but were distracted by a mass prison break, a senior army officer said on Saturday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s Socialist Party has broken off coalition talks with the nationalist bloc and is starting negotiations with the pro-European alliance led by the Democratic Party, officials said on Saturday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia wants a negotiated end to territorial disputes in ex-Soviet Georgia, but it will not tolerate deliberate attempts to stir up its peacekeeping troops there, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s new government paid tribute to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and asked President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday to spare thousands of prisoners held on death row.

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 6:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday: KANDAHAR – An improvised explosive device (IED) killed four U.S.-led coalition soldiers and wounded two more in the southern province of Kandahar, the U.S. military said.

KABUL (Reuters) – An improvised explosive device (IED) killed four U.S.-led coalition soldiers on Saturday in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the scene of a large anti-Taliban offensive and an insurgent jail break.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The United Arab Emirates’ Crescent Petroleum expects to start importing gas from Iran’s offshore Salman Field in three months, its chairman said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki slammed calls by the US and its western allies for Iran to give up its nuclear rights, enshrined in Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Qatari officials attended a joint meeting in Doha on Thursday to discuss security at the two countries’ borders.

TEHRAN (FNA)- An Iranian provincial official said that if Iranians save up to 10 per cent of their current consumption, the country will not be faced with power cuts.