Uzbekistan Uzbekistan's autocratic President Islam Karimov faced pressure at home and abroad over a deadly crackdown, after foreign diplomats slammed a state-run trip to the site of the violence for its lack of access and an opposition group called on him to resign. Georgia A live hand grenade was thrown towards US President George W. Bush as he addressed a massive crowd here last week and posed a threat to his welfare, the US embassy said, contradicting initial reports from US and Georgian officials. NKorea Already severe food shortages in North Korea are escalating to crisis levels as UN World Food Programme supplies to the reclusive Stalinist state run out, a spokesman said. Mideast Israel launched its first air strike against Palestinian militants since armed groups began observing a de facto truce, seriously wounding a Hamas militant and jeopardising the fragile peace. Iraq The Iraqi defence minister vowed to regain the upper hand against insurgents as the death toll this month neared 500, mostly due to a bombing campaign which the US blames on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda's top man in Iraq. NKorea South Korea said it would champion a "more acceptable" deal for North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons ambitions in a bid to break the year-long deadlock in the nuclear standoff. Afghanistan Afghanistan's government said it was in contact with an abducted Italian aid worker, who was in good health, and her kidnappers and was optimistic she would be released unharmed. Iran The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany will hold crisis talks with Iran on May 24 in Brussels to discuss Tehran's controversial nuclear program, European diplomats said. Russia Lawyers representing Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky said it was a foregone conclusion their client would be found guilty as judges continued reading the protracted verdict in the controversial trial. AFPEntertainment French-speaking "Star Wars" fans got a 24-hour intergalactic jump on the rest of the world with the premiere of the space saga's final episode, as toy and video manufacturers geared up for a sales bonanza.