Iraq A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that include murder and torture, refusing to recognise the court's authority on the first day of a trial that could see him executed. US The United States will deploy military-civilian reconstruction teams in Iraq to help rebuild the country and defuse a raging insurgency, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. Europe Russia, China and Romania confirmed new outbreaks of potentially lethal bird flu, fueling fears of a global influenza pandemic as Europe scrambled to contain the virus on its southeastern flank. US Hurricane Wilma became the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic as it hurtled toward Mexico and the US coast, packing terrifying 280-kilometer-an-hour (175-mile-an-hour) winds. Pakistan Kashmiris waited eagerly Wednesday for Pakistan and India to open the territory's disputed frontier after this month's devastating quake, as aftershocks rattled traumatized survivors. Spain A Spanish judge issued an arrest warrant for three US soldiers suspected of involvement in the April 2003 shelling of a Baghdad hotel in which Spanish cameraman Jose Couso was killed, a legal source said. Chile Chile's Supreme Court stripped ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet of his immunity so he can be tried for tax fraud and other crimes related to the secret accounts he had in the United States and other countries, the court said. China China and the United States agreed to improve military ties after US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that a rapid and secretive military buildup was sending "mixed signals" about China's intentions, US officials said. Mideast Israel contemplated slapping a permanent ban on Palestinians using major highways in the West Bank in a bid to improve security for settlers living in the occupied territory. France The French agriculture ministry said it wanted European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to steer clear of the agriculture issue during talks at the World Trade Organisation this week. Indonesia Indonesian police said they had arrested two more men in connection with their probe into this month's suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali.