■ Haiti

French minister on visit

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier Saturday night wrapped up a 24-hour official visit to Haiti, the first in the impoverished Caribbean island state's 200-year independence from France, in which he promised cash, reconstruction aid and goodwill. "You don't need supervision, but we are there for you," he told Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who expressed pleasure in seeing his country "establish a new type of relations with France." In the course of his visit, Barnier also met with interim President Boniface Alexandre and Haiti's ministers of economy and finance, and foreign affairs.

■ United Kingdom

Theater ceiling collapses

A theater ceiling has partly collapsed during a show in London's West End, injuring up to 15 members of the audience, British police said yesterday. Parts of the Theatre Royal's ceiling fell into the auditorium during Saturday evening's performance of When Harry Met Sally after a chandelier dropped 1.2m before being caught by a safety rope. "About 15 members of the audience were injured, with cuts, bruising and shock," a police spokesman said. "The majority were taken to hospital and the rest of the audience were evacuated." The stage version of the 1989 classic film features two Hollywood stars, former Beverley Hills 90210 actor Luke Perry and Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Alyson Hannigan.

■ Germany

Bombing victims want cash

Attorneys for victims of the Libya-linked bombing of a Berlin discotheque in 1986 were expected to issue an update late yesterday in negotiations for a financial settlement of the case. The club, La Belle, was popular with US soldiers stationed in the then-divided German capital. A blast there killed three people and injured 200. In retaliation, the US carried out air raids against targets in Libya in April 1986, a few weeks after the disco attack. A Berlin court later found the Libyan intelligence services jointly culpable for the La Belle bombing. Attorneys for the Berlin victims are seeking US$98 million in damages.

■ United States

Stem cell research cheaper

The Bush administration has acknowledged that additional lines, or colonies, of embryonic stem cells could speed scientific research, a statement that advocates for patients say could mark the first step toward easing limits on taxpayer financing for the studies. The acknowledgment was tucked into a carefully worded letter sent on Friday by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health, to 206 members of Congress who are pressing President Bush to alter his stem cell policy.