Mideast Hundreds of Israeli troops and police piled into the main Gaza settlement as they prepared to evict diehard settlers who have refused to leave of their own accord. Venezuela-Colombia A Colombian jet carrying French tourists crashed in the mountains of western Venezuela killing all 160 people on board. Israel-China-US Israel's defence ministry and the Pentagon announced in a joint statement that they had resolved a crisis sparked by an arms contract between Israel and China. Afghanistan-NATO-Spain A helicopter crash that killed 17 Spanish troops in western Afghanistan may have been the result of an attack, Spanish Defence Minister Jose Bono said, qualifying an earlier statement which said it was an accident. Iraq Iraqi politicians warned of political turmoil after failing to meet a deadline on the country's new constitution, but Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and US officials sought to downplay the crisis. Brazil About 10,000 demonstrators rallied behind President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's scandal-rocked government in the capital, but also demanded changes in his economic policy. Japan A powerful earthquake off Japan's Pacific coast injured at least 56 people, set off small tsunami waves and swayed towering buildings in the heart of Tokyo. Portugal Nearly 2,200 firefighters were battling dozens of wildfires in parched Portugal, including 10 major blazes which were raging out of control and forced the evacuation of several mountain villages. Greece At least one of the staff aboard a Cypriot airliner that crashed in Greece may have struggled desperately to regain control of the doomed plane, information gathered by Greek investigators suggested. Afghanistan-Lebanon Taliban militants threatened Tuesday to kill a kidnapped Lebanese engineer if his Turkish construction company fails to leave Afghanistan within 24 hours. Pakistan-US Pakistani police charged a man for his alleged role in the kidnapping and slaying of US reporter Daniel Pearl.