Mideast The French army's top doctor Christian Estripeau announced that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died Thursday at 0230 GMT. Mideast Israel gave the go-ahead for the eventual burial of ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to take place at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Mideast The Palestinian Authority has declared a 40-day period of mourning across the Palestinian territories to mark the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat, the head of his office said. Iraq US-led troops had occupied most of Fallujah and were confident of taking full control, as kidnappers pledged to kill Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's relatives unless the assault stopped. ICoast European nations led by France, and Canada, began evacuating their nationals from Ivory Coast, where an explosion of anti-French violence has made even longtime residents rush to fell violent unrest. ICoast Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo insisted he did not order the bombing of a French military base that sparked unrest in the main city Abidjan and caused hundreds of foreign nationals to flee the country. Netherlands Dutch police arrested two people here as they ended a 14-hour siege on an apartment where suspected extremists had been holed up since early Wednesday. Japan China said it knew nothing about a submarine that entered Japanese waters near a disputed gas field sparking a high seas chase.