Iraq US troops tackled the last die-hard militants in Fallujah with the city almost under control, while expectations grew of a military assault on Iraq's rebellious northern capital of Mosul. Iraq Aid from the Iraqi Red Crescent remained holed up at Fallujah's main hospital as relief workers negotiated with US troops for access to residents of the city, an agency official said. Mideast Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Mahmud Abbas is firm favourite to become the dominant Fatah faction's candidate to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority, a cabinet minister said. Mideast At the request of the US administration, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to consider removing Israeli security forces from Palestinian population areas to facilitate Palestinian elections in the next two months, the New York Times reported. Iran The United States and Israel are engaged in an "undeclared war against Islam" which has overshadowed the month of Ramadan, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a sermon for Eid al-Fitr, Islam's holiest festival. SKorea Tens of thousands of workers rallied in South Korea to protest a government reform bill aimed at stopping union militancy and increasing job market flexibility, as labor leaders called a strike against the legislation. Pakistan Pakistani forces plan to "cleanse" Al-Qaeda linked militants from a district near the Afghan border by the year's end after the biggest offensive yet launched this month, state media reported. ICoast Hundreds of frightened Europeans continued fleeing Ivory Coast as an emergency summit on the violence-torn west African country was set to open in Nigeria. Indonesia Nineteen men convicted in Indonesia for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings received reductions in their sentences on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a prison official was quoted as saying. India Suspected Muslim rebels in Indian Kashmir killed three policemen on the eve of Eid, as they guarded a Hindu village that witnessed a massacre in 2003, police said. Algeria One sailor drowned and 18 were missing after three boats were shipwrecked off the port of Algiers in violent storms overnight, Algerian radio reported.