Ukraine Ukraine's presidential election lit up with a doctor's report that opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was likely poisoned, in a stunning disclosure two weeks before a rerun vote that he is increasingly likely to win. Mideast Shimon Peres was poised to lead his Labour party into Ariel Sharon's new coalition government in a move set to save the Israeli prime minister's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by end-2005. Taiwan An opposition alliance which favours friendly ties with China defeated a pro-independence grouping in Taiwan's parliamentary election and vowed to push for better relations with the mainland. Iraq A US soldier was jailed for three years for shooting dead an unarmed and wounded civilian in Baghdad's Sadr City, as Iraqi security forces were again targeted in attacks that killed 11 across the country. Portugal Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes announced that he and his centre-right cabinet had submitted their resignations, the day after the nation's socialist president announced he would dissolve parliament and call an early vote. US President George W. Bush began searching for a new US homeland security chief after former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik withdrew his name from consideration, admitting a nanny he employed may have been an illegal immigrant. Somalia The Somali parliament passed a motion sacking Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi and his 10-day-old unpopular government, casting a shadow over hopes of ending a 13-year power vacuum in the anarchic Horn of Africa state. Romania Romanians vote in a run-off presidential election between Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu that will be closely watched for fraud after doubts about the fairness of the first round. Philippines Rescuers ended their search for survivors in the ruins of a collapsed building in the storm-ravaged northeastern Philippines after concluding there was no one left alive. Sudan African Union-sponsored peace negotiations on the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur resumed in the Nigerian capital, with delegates from the EU, the League of Arab States, the UN and two main rebel groups in attendance.