Russia World leaders commemorated the World War II victory over Nazi Germany at a Red Square parade of finely-honed pageantry, as Russian President Vladimir Putin urged unity against terrorism and sought to calm renewed East-West tensions. Russia-Georgia-US George W. Bush travelled to Georgia in the first-ever visit by a serving US president to the Caucasus region long dominated by Russia, underscoring the dramatic geopolitical shifts underway in the former Soviet Union. Iraq The foreign hostage crisis deepened in Iraq with the abduction of a Japanese security contractor as US forces said they killed 75 rebels in a sweep near the Syrian border for Iraq's most-wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraq-Japan The head of the Japan Defense Agency said activities of Japanese troops in Iraq would not be affected by reports a Japanese national had been taken hostage in the war-torn nation. Iraq-Australia No new information on the fate of an Australian held hostage in Iraq has emerged despite the passing of a deadline set by his kidnappers for his country's soldiers to be withdrawn from the country, said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Iran Iran will resume some sensitive nuclear activities "in the next few days", an Iranian official negotiating with the EU over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme told AFP. 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. US-NKorea The United States remains ready for direct talks with North Korea, but only within the framework of multi-party discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear arms program, the State Department said. EU-Russia European Union (EU) and Russian leaders hope to strike a raft of accords at a summit in Moscow, although talks were continuing until the last minute on a key issue which remains unresolved. Britain British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his third-term government, at the start of perhaps the most crucial week of his political career, amid talk of a possible challenge to his leadership. 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. Saudi Two suspects wanted by police were hit in a firefight with Saudi police east of the capital Riyadh, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP, without specifying whether they were dead or wounded. Belgium-Rwanda Two Rwandan businessmen went on trial before a Brussels criminal court for their alleged roles in the 1994 genocide in their country.