London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday dismissed growing unrest over his leadership within the ruling Labour Party by saying he was focusing on the bigger issues posed by the current economic challenges.

"What the prime minister is doing is focusing on the big issues facing the country and by far the biggest issue facing the country at the moment is the situation in the financial markets," his spokesman said.

Tel Aviv - In a contest which could decide the fate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Israel's ruling Kadima party began electing a new leader Wednesday to replace discredited Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Some 144 polling stations opened their doors at 10 am (0700 GMT) at locations throughout the country, and stay open for 12 hours, to enable the 74,000 eligible Kadima members to cast their ballots. By mid-afternoon, slightly more than 13 per cent had done so.

"I call on everyone to come and vote," frontrunner Tzipi Livni told reporters as she cast her ballot in Tel Aviv.

Abuja - The Nigerian government has closed down a private television station after it reported that President Umaru Yar'Adua was preparing to resign after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Channels Television quoted the the state-run News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which vehemently denied it was the source of the story.

Olusegun Adeniyi, spokesman to Yar'Adua said that there was no truth to the resignation story and that it was intended to cause harm to Nigeria.

"Such persons or groups had made it their business to spread baseless rumours and untruths about the president in furtherance of there selfish schemes and ambitions," he said.

Management at the TV station were also arrested.

Nairobi - An independent commission led by South African judge Johann Kriegler on Wednesday handed over its final report on the 2007 Kenyan elections that ended in bloodshed after allegations of vote rigging.

President Mwai Kibaki received the report and promised to act on its findings.

More than 1,500 people died in clashes between rival tribes affiliated to the political parties and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes during the violence, which came after opposition leader Raila Odinga accused Kibaki's party of rigging the presidential elections.

Seoul - Five Chinese military doctors who were sent to North Korea last month to treat its leader, Kim Jong Il, remain in the country, strengthening suspicion that his recovery is proceeding slowly, a South Korean newspaper reported Wednesday.

North Korea might also want to keep the physicians in the country to prevent information from leaking out about Kim's health, JoongAng Ilbo said, citing intelligence officials.

The South Korean intelligence agency has said Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in mid-August and underwent brain surgery.

Whether the Chinese doctors who remain in North Korea - all neurosurgeons - performed the operation was not known, JoongAng Ilbo said.

London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday dismissed growing unrest over his leadership within the ruling Labour Party by saying he was focusing on the bigger issues posed by the current economic challenges.

"What the prime minister is doing is focusing on the big issues facing the country and by far the biggest issue facing the country at the moment is the situation in the financial markets," his spokesman said.

The comment came after days of speculation that so-called Labour rebels would challenge Brown's leadership at the party's annual conference in Manchester next week.