Iraq Insurgents downed a Bulgarian helicopter in Iraq, killing all nine aboard, a day after an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the discovery of 60 corpses renewed fears of sectarian violence. Italy Italy's president began a round of crisis talks between the country's leading political figures aimed at averting early elections after the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Ecuador Ecuador's ousted leader Lucio Gutierrez awaited a flight to exile in Brazil, 24 hours after Congress sacked him and swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio as head of state. Vatican Pope Benedict XVI moved to confirm the Vatican's senior officials in their posts in a sign of continuity with his predecessor's conservative legacy, as more details emerged about how he swept to the papacy. Lithuania US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up pressure on Belarus, saying elections next year in the ex-Soviet state must be free and fair and defending protestors' right to take to the streets. Mideast Defence chiefs recommended that Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip be delayed until the middle of August in a proposal likely to be accepted by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. China France threw its support behind a law that allows China to attack Taiwan while vowing to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell Beijing weapons.