Russia Russian special forces stormed three buildings held by pro-Chechen gunmen, crushing a massive raid by militants in the southern city of Nalchik that killed more than 100 people, officials said. Health European countries boosted defences against bird flu and tried to prevent panic as they awaited test results to show whether the feared H5N1 strain -- killer of more than 60 people in Asia -- had crossed into Europe for the first time. Health Poultry sales plummeted in Turkey, Romania and elsewhere in Europe as people reacted in panic to news that the deadly Asian bird flu had spread to the frontiers of the continent and possibly beyond. Iraq Iraqis prepared for an historic referendum on their draft constitution as authorities imposed a security clampdown in a bid to thwart insurgents seeking to disrupt the vote. Quake The search for survivors in quake-hit Pakistan was being abandoned as rescuers battling blocked roads and a shortage of helicopters focused on getting aid to remote mountain villages. Japan Japan's parliament enacted plans to privatize the monolithic post office, fulfilling Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's long-held dream of breaking up the three-trillion-dollar financial giant to reinvigorate the struggling economy. US US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a brief visit to Paris and after talks with President Jacques Chirac reiterated a warning to Iran to restart negotiations over its nuclear programme or risk being taken before the UN security council. Netherlands The Dutch police arrested seven people suspected of planning terrorist attacks, officials said, as police sealed off government buildings in The Hague and carried out several raids in the city. US Saudi King Abdullah vowed in his first television interview as monarch to eliminate Al-Qaeda even if the battle takes decades to win, condemning the terror network as "the work of the devil". Health The European Union called an emergency meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers next week to try to resolve tensions over Europe's position on crunch world trade talks.