Ukraine Ukraine's parliament passed a controversial plan to weaken the presidency, breaking a standoff between outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and the opposition and smoothing the way for a new presidential poll. Iraq American troops waiting in the Kuwaiti desert to go into Iraq challenged US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about their safety and their future in the country. EU The EU said it is working towards lifting a 15-year-old arms embargo on China, but rebuffed pressure for a quick end to the ban from China's prime minister, who slammed it as a Cold War relic. Japan Japan protested to North Korea and threatened to cut food aid after the Stalinist state handed over other people's ashes to prove the death of a Japanese woman whom it had abducted at age 13. North Ireland The British and Irish leaders conceded that their plan to restore power-sharing government to Northern Ireland was "incomplete" but stressed that a definitive peace deal hinged on how to carry out IRA disarmament. US President George W. Bush asked Treasury Secretary John Snow to remain in the top economic cabinet post as Bush starts his second term, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. EU Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana said his country had completed its negotiations to join the European Union in 2007. US US Secretary of State Colin Powell called on European nations to look beyond their differences with the United States over Iraq and respond positively to US overtures to improve strained transatlantic ties. Mideast Prime Minister Ariel Sharon bolstered mounting peace hopes Wednesday by saying Israel would hold off offensive operations against the Palestinians in the absence of attacks by militant organisations. OPEC OPEC oil producers must act to stem a recent slide in prices, either by ending cheating on quotas or by lowering the official output ceiling, Libyan Oil Minister Fathi Hamed Ben Shatwan said.