Iraq At least 90 people were killed and 180 wounded as US troops and Iraqi forces charged into Samarra 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. Pakistan A suspected suicide bomb blast ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque during prayers in the eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot, killing at least 19 people and leaving dozens injured, police said. Kuwait Al-Jazeera television broadcast a new message attributed to Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri calling on the resistance in "Iraq, Afghanistan, in Palestine and Chechyna." Israel At least six Palestinians were killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, just hours after around 100 Israeli tanks moved deep into the area to try to stop militant rocket attacks on Israel. Iraq-France A Frenchman presenting himself as an unofficial negotiator said in a telephone interview with a radio station that he was with two French reporters who are being held hostage by insurgents in Iraq. Britain British Prime Minister Tony Blair underwent surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat, a day after announcing that he intends to serve a full third term if re-elected. Spain The Spanish government approved a bill to legalize homosexual marriages, which will make it the first country in predominantly Catholic southern Europe to legalise gay marriages and the third in Europe, cabinet spokeswoman Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said. Nigeria Talks between Nigerian government officials and Niger Delta rebel leader Mujahid Dokubo Asari went into a third day under the shadow of a rebel deadline for foreign oil workers to quit the region, a member of the rebel delegation said. US-China China has vowed to move "firmly and steadily" toward a flexible exchange rate during a meeting of Chinese and US officials in Washington, the US Treasury Department said. Turkey-EU Turkey said it had scrapped talks in Istanbul next week between the European Union and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) amid a row over the participation of Turkish Cypriots officials. Sudan The African Union confirmed that the Sudanese government has "formally accepted the reinforcement of the AU force" in Darfur, the western region of Sudan in the grips of civil war, but denied that any accord had been signed. North Korea-Canada 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.