Iraq US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a surprise visit to Iraq, predicted violence would increase ahead of January's elections as rebel attacks killed 11 people including a US soldier. Afghanistan-vote KABUL: Observers gave their approval to Afghanistan's landmark presidential election, deeming it "fairly democratic" and rejecting opposition calls for a new vote on the grounds of fraud. Mideast Israeli forces launched a new series of air strikes on a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding several others, including militants. Pakistan Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said he believes Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was alive but that he was unsure where he was hiding. Pakistan A suicide bomber killed at least three other people when he detonated a powerful bomb at a Shiite Muslim mosque in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Australia Australian Prime Minister John Howard promised that his newly-elected fourth-term government would as its first priorities strive to maintain a strong economy and keep up the international war on terrorism. Somalia Veteran politician and soldier Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed wins Somalia's presidential election, and promises to do all he can to rebuild a country devastated by years of conflict. Cameroon Voters in the west African state of Cameroon were to go to the polls in a presidential election observers believe incumbent President Paul Biya is virtually certain to win. Lithuania A party led by a Russian-born millionaire won the most votes in the first round parliamentary elections in Lithuania, but apparently not enough to form a government on its own, initial results showed.