Iraq The spiralling battle between insurgents and security forces killed dozens of people in 48 hours, as the top US commander in Iraq predicted that violence would disrupt landmark elections. Iraq Armed men kidnapped a Catholic archbishop in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, clerics said, prompting denunciations from the Vatican of what it called a "terrorist act". US The Pentagon slammed as fatally distorted a New Yorker magazine report that teams of US commandos have been operating inside Iran since the middle of last year, selecting suspected weapons sites for possible air strikes. Warcrimes Former Bosnian Serb officer Vidoje Blagojevic became the second person to be convicted of genocide charges by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia over the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. Spain A top Spanish government official said the demise of armed Basque group ETA may be near, raising hopes that peace could finally take hold after decades of separatist violence. Ukraine Around 5,000 supporters of Ukraine's defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich rallied in his eastern stronghold as the supreme court began hearing his final appeal over a rerun election. Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin chastised the government and ordered a hike in pensions for the elderly after social security reforms that took effect at the start of the year sparked protests across the country pitting retirees against riot police. Iran Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi mounted a fresh challenge to the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary by parading dissidents who she said were seriously abused and tortured in jail. Asia The German public has donated a record 400 million euros (522 million dollars) in aid for victims of the Asian tsunami disaster, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said. Spain Around 1,000 people turned out at Barcelona's Santa Maria del Mar basilica for the funeral of feted Spanish soprano Victoria de los Angeles, two days after her death at age 81.