France Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was "brain dead" and breathing only thanks to artificial life support systems, a French medical source said after conflicting reports as to whether he was alive or dead. Mideast Political leaders in Israel and the West Bank steeled themselves for the end of the Yasser Arafat era as the vanguard of the Palestinian nationalist struggle for the last four decades lay brain dead in a Paris hospital. US Four years after sliding into the presidency in one of the closest contests in US history, George W. Bush took evident personal pride in claiming his re-election as "the will of the people." US World leaders took stock of what four more years of George W. Bush in the White House might bring, with many hoping the US president will vigorously pursue the war on terror and boost the Middle East peace process. Iraq Three British soldiers were killed in an attack south of Baghdad, Britain announced, as the rebel city of Fallujah braced for an all-out assault after the re-election of US President George W. Bush. EU European Union leaders welcomed a breakthrough in a row over the EU's executive line-up aimed at soon resolving an institutional limbo for the 25-nation bloc. Afghanistan Afghanistan's newly elected president Hamid Karzai vowed to eliminate private militias as he acknowledged his victory for the first time in the country's historic ballot. UN Sudan's blood-soaked Darfur region could be headed toward disaster with warlords on the loose and the government no longer in full control of its forces, the United Nations' top Sudan official warned. US In its first foreign policy move since President George W. Bush won reelection this week, the United States enraged NATO ally Greece by siding with neighboring Macedonia in a bitter row over the use of the country's name. US A judge rejected Michael Jackson's bid to have the prosecutor accusing him of child abuse kicked off the case because of an alleged personal vendetta against the star.