Iraq US marines and Iraqi forces kicked off pre-dawn raids on at least seven mosques in the rebel bastion of Ramadi, prompting firefights in the city that left two Iraqis dead, the military and hospital sources said. Russia Russia's justice ministry announced plans to break up Yukos in a fatal blow to Russia's largest oil producer and the former Western investor darling that once dared challenge President Vladimir Putin's rule. Nigeria Defiant Nigerian union leaders took a nationwide general strike into a second day, determined to force President Olusegun Obasanjo to back down over his refusal to stem rising fuel prices. US With polls showing the US presidential race too close to call, the incumbent George W. Bush heads for the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado to shore up his Republican base there while preparing for his last nationally televised face-off with Democrat John Kerry. Indonesia A sunset ceremony in the waves off Bali's shores ended an emotional day of tribute to the 202 people killed two years ago when Islamic militant bombs tore through the heart of Indonesia's resort island. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was stepping up his efforts to stitch together a new governing coalition after his Gaza pullout plan suffered an embarrassing reverse in parliament. Afghanistan Vote counting in Afghanistan's troubled election was still on hold as opposition candidates, backing down from boycott threats, awaited an international inquiry into charges of multiple voting. Iran Western nations are considering making one last try to get Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons, although the United States has its hands tied until the November 2 presidential election, diplomats said. Pakistan-China Tribal elders opened talks with an Al-Qaeda-linked militant to secure the release of two Chinese engineers abducted from a remote area near the Afghan border, officials said. Africa Africa's farmers and rural communities have become the forgotten victims of HIV/AIDS, health experts and political leaders from the across the continent were told at a conference in Addis Ababa.