Iraq Iraq's new 275-member national assembly opened, beginning a new phase in the nascent democracy, but politicians failed to agree on a unity government ahead of the historic first session. Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday confirmed his intention to begin withdrawing Italy's troops from Iraq within a few months, but Rome assured its allies in the US-led coalition that it would not act unilaterally. Mideast Israel handed to the Palestinian Authority limited security control in the West Bank city of Jericho, in a symbolic first step of a four-week promised transfer. Canada A Canadian judge acquitted two Sikh men of massacring 329 people in a 1985 Air India jet bombing, the worst single airborne terror strike prior to September 11, 2001. OPEC OPEC countries decided to raise their oil production ceiling from 27 to 27.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and consider a further raise in quotas, but the move failed to stop volatile markets from pushing crude to record highs. US US President George W. Bush said he wanted the deeply controversial number two at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, to become World Bank chief. Warcrimes European Union foreign ministers announced an indefinite delay to the start of EU membership negotiations with Croatia amid a standoff over a key war crimes suspect. Vatican Pope John Paul II blessed pilgrims from his apartment window overlooking St Peter's Square, in his first public appearance since his discharge from hospital. Pakistan US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Pakistan's military ruler President Pervez Musharraf that the United States supports Pakistan's move toward free elections, a State Department spokesman said. NKorea North Korea lashed out at US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for calling the communist country an "outpost of tyranny" and ruled out new talks over its nuclear ambitions. Spain More than 500 suspected paedophiles who lured their victims over the Internet have been arrested in 12 countries in Europe and Latin America, Spanish police coordinating the operation said.