Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president, promising to restore security to the war-shattered country exactly three years after the fall of the Taliban. OSCE The United States and Russia clashed at the OSCE international security body over the Ukraine crisis and other key issues with Cold War-style rhetoric that blocked a final consensus statement from the 55-nation group. Iraq Russian President Vladimir Putin cast doubt over the viability of holding elections as planned next month in an Iraq under "total occupation", as the number of US soldiers killed in combat neared 1,000. Mideast Egypt raised the prospect of a framework for a Middle East peace deal and said it could soon return an ambassador to Israel, a move that would revive full diplomatic ties after a four-year break. Ukraine The struggle for power in Ukraine shifted to parliament as lawmakers tried to break a deadlock between the ruling regime and the opposition over legislative changes ahead of a new presidential runoff vote. EU Europe stepped up verbal attacks on the United States over its yawning deficits but failed to arrest the euro's record-breaking, and economically damaging, rally against the dollar. Saudi The United States renewed a warning to its nationals to stay out of Saudi Arabia following a brazen attack claimed by Al-Qaeda on its mission in Jeddah that killed at least nine people. Italy Italian anti-Mafia magistrates ordered the arrest of 65 people as part of a massive police swoop in Naples in a bid to staunch the bloodletting in a turf war which has killed more than 120 people, the interior minister said. Britain The BBC said it would eliminate 2,900 jobs, or more than 10 percent of its workforce, as part of a cost-saving "transformation" of the world's biggest and best-known public broadcaster. Ghana Ghana's President John Kufuor predicted a "big win" for his party in presidential and parliamentary polls amid disturbances around the west African state that left one person dead and suspended voting in the north. Nigeria Nigerian villagers lifted their blockade of three oil pumping stations in the volatile Niger Delta after energy giants Shell and ChevronTexaco agreed to discuss funding local development projects. EU The EU is preparing to send a "positive signal" to China at a summit with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Wednesday over his call to lift a 15-year-old EU arms embargo, but no immediate decision is expected.