WWII-history-Russia World leaders gathered in Moscow for a grandiose Red Square parade commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, as Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to unite the world against terrorism and soothe renewed East-West tensions. WWII-history-Russia-Georgia-US George W. Bush arrived here from Moscow in the first-ever visit by a serving US president to the Caucasus region long dominated by Russia, underscoring the dramatic geopolitical shifts under way in the former Soviet Union. Iraq US forces said they killed 75 rebels in a sweep near the Syrian border for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as the foreign hostage crisis deepened with claims by militants that they had abducted a Japanese national. Afghanistan Two US Marines and up to 23 militants were killed in a clash in eastern Afghanistan amid an upsurge in violence by suspected Taliban rebels which has claimed more than 100 lives in the past week. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delayed the operation to pull out of the Gaza Strip until the middle of August as his number two in government warned the withdrawal was not a done deal. NKorea North Korea breathed life into battered hopes for a resumption of dialogue to end its nuclear weapons drive amid conflicting reports that it was ready to test an atomic bomb. Britain British Prime Minister Tony Blair was beginning perhaps the most crucial week of his political life as he put the finishing touches to a third-term government amid talk of a possible challenge to his leadership. Belgium-Rwanda Two Rwandan businessmen went on trial before a Brussels criminal court for their alleged roles in the 1994 genocide in their country. Nepal-US-India US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Christina Rocca, arrived in Nepal and was expected to push for the restoration of democracy after the king seized power in February.