Afghanistan A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up at an army training centre in the Afghan capital, killing eight soldiers and a civilian and wounding 28 other troops. Iraq A woman suicide bomber blew herself up at an Iraqi police recruitment centre, killing five people in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Mideast Israel launched new air strikes on Gaza as Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas prepared for talks with US President George W. Bush seeking to prevent a further escalation of the five-year conflict. EU Turkey hinted that it may shun the start of EU membership talks next week as political tensions rose over the country's place in Europe, leading Britain to warn of a "huge betrayal" if the door was slammed shut on Ankara. US US Congressman Tom Delay has stepped down as Republican Party majority leader in the House of Representatives after being indicted in his home state of Texas in connection with a campaign finance scheme. Asia Typhoon Damrey petered out after killing at least 71 people and cutting a swathe of destruction in a week-long sweep through East Asia, while elsewhere landslides triggered by heavy rains killed 51 in Nepal. Britain Distraught relatives of an innocent Brazilian man shot dead by London anti-terror police retraced his last moments and demanded the arrest of officers they said killed him like a "mad dog". Italy Calisto Tanzi, the man who turned Parmalat from a provincial family business into a global food group, and 18 other defendants went on trial in Europe's biggest case of corporate fraud, which bankrupted the business. US US Army private Lynndie England was sentenced to three years in prison and granted a dishonourable discharge by a military court for her role in abusing Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. France Helicopter-borne French troops on the island of Corsica stormed a ship that had been hijacked by striking seamen, as tensions continued to mount over the privatisation of a state-owned ferry company.