Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened a military assault on Fallujah if the rebel bastion does not surrender Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, while the war-ravaged nation pleaded for aid at an international donor conference in Tokyo. Afghanistan After delays over fraud charges and boycott threats, the vote count in Afghanistan's presidential election finally began, five days after millions of men and women defied the Taliban to have their first say in their country's destiny. Iraq Jordanian hostage Hisham Talab al-Ezza has been released in Iraq in return for a ransom of 50,000 dollars and returned to Jordan, his brother told AFP. US US President George W. Bush and Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry battled over Iraq, terrorism, health care, and jobs, hoping their final debate would break their deadlocked race. Cambodia Cambodia's Prince Sihamoni, the relatively unknown son of the kingdom's retired monarch, will be officially named the new king later Thursday, his half-brother and national assembly president said. Bolivia The Bolivian Congress voted to put former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and 15 other members of his ousted cabinet on trial on charges of genocide and embezzlement of state funds. Pakistan-China Two Chinese hostages held in northern Pakistan have been freed in a violent rescue operation which left all five kidnappers dead and one of the Chinese seriously injured, the military told AFP. Britain A bomb alert forced a Virgin Atlantic flight from Hong Kong to London's Heathrow airport to land at Stansted airport, north of the British capital, as a "precautionary measure", officials said. Mideast A 70-year-old Palestinian critically wounded before dawn in an Israeli air raid on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip has died of his injuries, taking the death toll in the attack to three, Palestinian hospital sources said. China-Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit expected to focus on trade, with China likely to make a last-ditch appeal for a much-coveted but controversial oil pipeline.