Mideast Mahmud Abbas extended a hand to Israel after being triumphantly elected Palestinian leader, while the approval of an Israeli government favourable to a Gaza pullout further boosted peace hopes. Asia A US helicopter crashed and a strong aftershock struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island as aid groups struggled to reach survivors of the tsunamis that killed more than 156,000 people around Asia. Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted his security forces were winning the battle against extremists, as Baghdad's deputy police chief was among more than a dozen people killed in pre-election rebel violence. Chile Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet, currently under house arrest on murder and kidnapping charges stemming from abuses during his 1973-1990 rule, was released on bail by a judge. Kuwait Kuwaiti security forces fatally wounded a wanted militant Monday in a deadly shootout in which two policemen were killed amid a US security alert, the interior ministry said. China China and Taiwan took a step towards allowing the first direct flights between the rivals since 1949 as representatives held talks on permitting charter flights over the Chinese New Year holidays. Cuba Cuba announced that it is renewing ties with the European Union as well as all EU countries that have embassies on the island. Europe Northern Europe began picking itself up after some of the most violent storms in years left a wake of death, destruction and flooding across the Nordic and Baltic countries and northern England. Ukraine Ukrainian election officials declared Viktor Yushchenko the official winner of a rerun presidential vote, paving the way for the "orange revolution" hero to be inaugurated as the third president of an independent Ukraine.