Mideast Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas hailed Israel's historic Gaza withdrawal as the result of Palestinian sacrifice, as Israeli forces moved out some of the last remaining Jewish settlers. Mideast A Jordanian soldier was killed when unidentified attackers fired three rockets targeting US warships moored in Jordan's neighbouring Red Sea port of Aqaba and an Israeli resort. US The only man convicted over the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States was jailed for seven years by a German court after a retrial for belonging to a terrorist organization but cleared of accessory to murder. US US pharmaceutical giant Merck and Co. was found guilty in a high-profile wrongful death case brought by the widow of a man who died after using its blockbuster arthritis painkiller Vioxx. Ecuador Ecuador's defense minister quit amid a mounting crisis over protests that in oil provinces that have cut output in the key South American supplier to a trickle. SriLanka Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to hold their first high-level talks in 30 months in a bid to salvage their troubled truce after the killing of the foreign minister, peace broker Norway said. Vatican Pope Benedict XVI will hold a prayer vigil for hundreds of thousands of young Catholics on Saturday ahead of a giant open-air mass the following day. Britain The head of London's Metropolitan Police, Ian Blair, bluntly refused to resign over last month's police shooting of a Brazilian wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber. Iran The UN nuclear agency has concluded that highly enriched uranium particles found in Iran were from imported equipment and not from Iran's own activities, diplomats said. US The fourth-largest US airline found itself in the grip of a potentially crippling strike as thousands of its mechanics, cleaners and other service employees walked off their jobs rather than agree to painful concessions. US More than 160 people have been arrested and tons of drugs have been seized as a result of a hemisphere-wide US-led crackdown against three drug distribution networks, US officials announced. Bangladesh Bangladesh was brought to a standstill by a nationwide strike called by the opposition to protest a wave of bombings earlier in the week linked to an Islamic extremist group. Russia The first ever large-scale Sino-Russian war games moved onto Chinese soil with the participation of elite troops from the two former adversaries, state media reported.