WORLD BRIEFS

ISRAEL: Pact ends hunger strike

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners agreed to halt a weekslong hunger strike Monday in exchange for promises of better conditions, a standoff that had left several participants clinging to life. The Palestinians won key concessions in a deal mediated by Egyptian officials, including more family visits and limits to a controversial Israeli policy that can imprison people for years without charge. In return, Israel extracted pledges for a halt to violent activities. Israel agreed to allow family visits for 400 prisoners from Gaza for the first time since 2006. Israel halted the visits after Hamas captured soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006. But Schalit was returned in a prisoner swap in October and Palestinians wanted the ban to end.

PAKISTAN: Talk of reopening border

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar suggested Monday that Pakistan should reopen its Afghan border to NATO troop supplies, saying the point has been made in closing the route for nearly six months in retaliation for U.S. air attacks that killed 24 Pakistani troops. Opening the border risks a domestic backlash given Washington's refusal to apologize for last year's attack, which it says was an accident. But it can help ensure Pakistan has a role in the future of Afghanistan as NATO prepares for a major conference starting Sunday in Chicago. The supply line through Pakistan to landlocked Afghanistan will be key to the withdrawal as NATO pulls out more than a decade's worth of equipment. The United States has been using a more costly route through Central Asia.

NIGERIA: 12 dead in raids on villages

Gunmen surrounded villages in the northeast and set them ablaze, killing at least 12 people and wounding 48 others in violence that could spread as attackers remain in hiding, the Nigerian Red Cross said Monday. The attacks targeted four villages early Sunday in a remote area of Adamawa state, bordering Cameroon. The number of dead could rise as relief workers remain unable to reach the villages and 2,000 people have fled.