Sri Lanka Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels that further clouded the nation's shaky peace process. Britain British airways said it would operate 85 percent of its medium-haul flights and 80-percent of long-haul journeys as it returned to normal following a devastating strike that grounded some 70,000 passengers since Thursday. Mideast Israel beefed up security around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem to foil plans by extremist Jews to take over the holy site ahead of the pullout from the Gaza Strip, army radio said. Iraq Iraqi power-brokers claimed success in solving four of the 18 issues dogging the constitution, including sharing of oil revenues, but federalism remained a key dispute two days before the deadline for completion of the new charter. US The Pentagon has moved forcefully to block the release of new video evidence of prisoner abuse at Iraq's ill-fated Abu Ghraib prison, arguing it would help recruit new Islamist insurgents and endanger American lives. Britain Britain's ban on firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed returning from Lebanon was roundly cheered as 10 other foreign Islamists faced deportation in the aftermath of the London bombings. Cuba Fidel Castro turned 79, regaining strength from a close alliance with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez that also helps him keep the United States at bay and ignore dissident voices. North Korea-South Korea A North Korean delegation is to visit South Korea's biggest war cemetery for the first time in a symbolic act of reconciliation between two countries technically still at war, officials said. Thailand Thailand's prime minister began a surprise visit to three provinces in the Muslim-majority south following a new call for peace by the nation's queen, and fresh intimidation by militants.