World in brief: What happened today

A Palestinian woman sits in a school with her children in Beddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Photo / Reuters

UN peace keepers accused of trading guns for gold

NEW YORK - Clouds of scandal are threatening the United Nations after allegations that peacekeepers in Congo traded guns for gold with militia groups.

Witnesses confirmed the existence of the trade to the BBC.

The UN's special representative in Congo, Ambassador William Swing, emphatically denied peacekeepers had rearmed the militias.

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Downer praises Bush for 'enormous courage'

SIMI VALLEY, California - Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has come to the defence of US President George W Bush, describing him as "a person of enormous courage".

Downer's support came just days after former US President Jimmy Carter described the Bush administration as the "worst in history".

Downer will spend today and tomorrow with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in California.

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Palestinians flee Lebanon camp

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon - Thousands of Palestinians fled a badly damaged refugee camp today after a fragile truce halted fighting between the Lebanese army and al Qaeda-inspired militants.

"It's mass destruction in there. The dead people are strewn on the streets. Nobody is picking them up," said camp resident Awad Saeed Awad as he boarded a bus for the nearby Beddawi camp where many were seeking refuge.

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