Iraq The US military said 94 insurgents were killed as its troops and Iraqi forces thrust into Samarra town in a first effort to reclaim troublespots before Iraq's planned elections, while a shocked nation buried 34 children killed by car bombs. US Senator John Kerry charged that President George W. Bush committed "a colossal error" by invading Iraq, as they clashed in a high-stakes debate that may decide their battle for the White House. Mideast The Israeli army will intensify its operation in the northern Gaza Strip if militant rocket attacks continue, a senior government official said. Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair was admitted to hospital for minor surgery to treat an irregular heartbeat. Nigeria Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that his government will not tolerate any "undue militancy" in the oil-rich Niger Delta. North Korea More than 40 North Koreans were holed up inside the Canadian embassy in Beijing for a third day after Canada refused China's demand to hand them over. Lebanon A Lebanese minister who resigned recently in a dispute over Syria's domination of the country was wounded when his car was targeted by a bomb in Beirut, a source at the American University of Beirut hospital said. US US President George W. Bush said direct talks with North Korea would play into the hands of its leader, Kim Jong-Il, who wants to blunt efforts to halt his state's nuclear weapons programme. Haiti One policeman was killed and two others were missing and feared dead, police said, as violence flared and shots rang out in the Haitian capital on the 13th anniversary of a military coup against ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide.