France The leaders of France, Germany and Poland formed a united front in defense of the EU constitution, just 10 days before the French vote on the treaty in a crucial referendum. Uzbekistan Uzbek troops reclaimed control over a key town on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border and reportedly arrested local Islamist leaders, as an international human rights group charged up to 1,000 people may have died in the military crackdown. Iraq A Sunni politician survived a raid on his home in which seven died, as a top US envoy called on Iraqi leaders to speak out against a wave of tit-for-tat killings which have raised sectarian tensions. Russia The man Russia says is the sole surviving hostage-taker from the massacre last autumn at Beslan's School Number One, pleaded not-guilty in an emotion-packed courtroom in Vladikavkaz, southern Russia. China China said it would not impose additional curbs on its textile exports, while urging the US to correct "erroneous" measures to impose more quotas on Chinese products. NKorea South and North Korea agreed to resume high-level reconciliation talks next month but failed to reach a breakthrough in efforts to get the Stalinist country back to nuclear disarmament talks. NKorea The United States made its first direct contact with North Korea in nearly half a year via Pyongyang's UN mission in New York amid a deadlock over the communist state's drive for nuclear weapons, a US embassy official said. Israel Israel threatened tougher military action against militants in the occupied Gaza Strip should Palestinians continue to open fire against Jewish settlements and Israeli territory. Iran Iran's decision to resume some of its sensitive nuclear work is "irreversible" despite the danger of being referred to the UN Security Council, a senior official told AFP. China Fifty-one miners were missing and feared dead after a gas explosion ripped through an illegally-operating coal mine near Chengde city in northern China's Hebei province, the government said.