Mideast New Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas vowed to reach a negotiated end to the vicious circle of Middle East violence as he was sworn in against a grim backdrop of deadly clashes in Gaza and a freezing of contacts by Israel. China Zhao Ziyang, the former Chinese leader who was ousted after sympathising with the Tiananmen democracy protests, is in a "deep coma" in a Beijing hospital and may be close to death, a close relative said. Iraq The Iraqi government announced its election day security plan, restricting travel inside cities and across the country, while admitting it was scrambling to ensure broad participation in four provinces plagued by the insurgency. India Islamic rebels stormed a complex in Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, and engaged in a fierce gun battle with paramilitary troops living inside the grounds, police said. Asia Aid officials expressed alarm about outbreaks of sickness in the area worst hit by last month's Asian tsunami disaster as the United States said it wanted to scale down its military relief work. US US soldier Charles Graner was expected to plead for leniency, one day after a military jury convicted him of beating and sexually abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Bosnia-Hercegovina A Bosnian Serb indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Savo Todovic, surrendered to the Bosnian Serb authorities and was immediately being transferred to the UN prison in The Hague, the Srna news agency quoted government officials as saying. Afghanistan The UN refugee agency threatened to suspend aid for Afghan refugees in Iran unless Tehran stopped their forced repatriation. Taiwan Taiwan and China agreed to landmark direct flights for next month's Lunar New Year holidays, a mainland official said. Britain US-led forces in Iraq have caused irreparable damage to the site of the ancient city of Babylon, contaminating the soil and destroying precious archaeological evidence, the British Museum said.