HongKong Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa resigned, citing health reasons for cutting short an eight-year tenure plagued by economic recession, policy blunders and unease over China's interference. Lebanon Pro-Syrian politician Omar Karameh agreed to return as Lebanon's prime minister at the head of a national unity cabinet, in a move promptly rejected by the opposition as a "provocation." Iraq At least 17 people were killed and 25 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself at a Shiite Muslim funeral in the restive northern city of Mosul, said medical sources. US Pop icon Michael Jackson was in hospital with a "serious back problem" his lawyer said after the star failed to turn up on time for his trial. Pakistan Pakistan's disgraced nuclear hero Abdul Qadeer Khan provided Iran with centrifuges but the government was in no way involved in the deal, a cabinet minister said. Russia Chechen rebels announced that an obscure religious leader would succeed their longtime chief Aslan Maskhadov, as the separatists in Russia's war-torn province regrouped after the killing of the moderate president by Moscow forces. France France's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games took a hard knock as trade unions staged a nationwide day of strikes, demonstrations and transport stoppages just as an IOC team held an inspection tour of the proposed Paris sites. Spain UN chief Kofi Annan unveiled a five-point global strategy against terrorism in Madrid, on the eve of commemorations in the city marking the first anniversary of the March 11 train bomb attacks. Vatican Pope John Paul II will remain in hospital "for a few more days," though he will be back at the Vatican by March 20, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.