Chechnya The head of Russia's FSB security service, Nikolai Patrushev, was shown on national television informing President Vladimir Putin that Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov had been killed. Lebanon Lebanon's pro-Syrian camp staged a massive show of force, pouring hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on to the streets of Beirut as Syrian troops prepared for a pullback to the east of the country. US US President George W. Bush demanded in a speech that Syria and Iran "stop using murder as a tool of policy" and end any support for terrorist groups. Italy Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini highlighted sharp differences between Rome's probe into the shooting by US troops of its top intelligence agent in Iraq and the version provided by its American allies. Kosovo Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned after being indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal over his role as a guerrilla commander in the Serbian province's 1998-99 conflict, sparking fears of renewed ethnic violence. China China lifted the veil on a much-anticipated anti-secession law which will give its military the legal basis for attacking Taiwan, prompting the island to warn peace in the region is under threat. Iraq Al-Qaeda militants gunned down a senior Iraqi offical and soldiers discovered 15 beheaded bodies as the furore over the US shooting of an Italian intelligence agent threatened to carve a deep rift between Washington and Rome. Mideast The Palestinian Authority said it was ready to assume control of the Gaza Strip after Israel's planned pullout, as leader Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of dragging its feet over peace. Britain Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his longtime companion Camilla Parker Bowles received the green light for their wedding next month after all formal legal objections against their union were dismissed. Spain An international conference on terrorism opened in Madrid with Spain's Prince Felipe stressing the "profound grief" felt in his country after the train bombings in the city almost exactly a year ago.