Iraq Iraqi officials said they were close to capturing their top enemy, Al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as the country went on high alert to foil insurgent efforts to wreck historic elections. Iraq Thousands of expatriate Iraqis cast ballots in their country's first free election for over half a century, with emotions running high among voters despite the relatively limited numbers taking part. Iraq Five US soldiers and at least eight Iraqis were killed in a string of attacks, two days before Iraq's landmark elections which insurgents have vowed to drench in blood. EU-France European scientists have confirmed the first case of "mad cow" disease in another species, officials said, while playing down the risk from a condition linked to a horrific brain disease in humans. Asia Peace negotiators for the Indonesian government and the main rebel group in the Aceh province sat down together in Helsinki to hammer out a lasting ceasefire for the region hardest hit by last month's tsunami disaster. Mideast Israel announced an end to offensive operations in Gaza after 2,000 Palestinian troops were deployed in the south and centre of the territory with orders to halt rocket attacks. Mideast The Palestinian radical Islamist movement Hamas was celebrating a landslide victory over the previously dominant Fatah faction in the first local elections held in the Gaza Strip. Asia Regional officials meeting on this tsunami-hit island considered building an expansive warning system for the Indian Ocean that would trigger alerts for killer waves and other natural disasters. Serbia-Montenegro One of four Serbian generals, Vladimir Lazarevic, wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague for his role in the 1998-99 Kosovo war has decided to give himself up next week, more than a year after he was indicted, Serbia's prime minister said. US Procter and Gamble announced a huge extension of its global household products empire in the form of acquisition of the Gillette razor group for about 57 billion dollars in shares.