Britain World oil prices soared, hitting fresh record high points above 50 dollars per barrel in electronic trading here ahead of formal pit deals, stoked by fears about supplies. Nigeria Oil majors in Nigeria said they were undeterred by the threat of an armed group fighting government troops in the Niger Delta to attack oil facilities and personnel. Iraq Two British soldiers were killed during an ambush on a convoy near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the ministry of defence said. France King Abdullah of Jordan held talks on the Middle East with President Jacques Chirac after warning in a newspaper interview that elections in Iraq are impossible in the current state of insecurity. Britain British Prime Minister Tony Blair goes before his own Labour Party to encourage its rank and file to look beyond the Iraq war and aim for a third term in power in elections likely to be held next year. US A member of the US House of Representatives has demanded a full congressional investigation of allegations the all-volunteer US Army was trying to coerce soldiers at the end of their contracts to re-enlist, threatening them with tours of duty in Iraq if they refused. Mideast Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered his security services to help secure the release of an Israeli Arab CNN producer kidnapped by Palestinian militants in Gaza, his office said. Britain British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said he shook hands with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in New York last week "by mistake" and because it was "dark", Britain's press reported. Thailand Thailand confirmed its tenth death from bird flu and the first probable case of human-to-human infection in an outbreak that has swept Asia this year. Haiti Devastating floods unleashed by Tropical Storm Jeanne are feared to have killed more than 2,000 people in the northern Haitian city of Gonaives, the city's mayor said. US President George W. Bush sharpened his jabs against Democratic challenger John Kerry, who has called for an end to the nasty advertising war that he said was scaring off voters three days before the rivals' first televised debate.