Mideast Israel began its historic operation to pull out of the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation, meeting anger and defiance from settlers being uprooted from their homes. Egypt Two people were wounded in an explosion near an airport used by the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, security sources said. Indonesia Indonesia and Aceh rebel leaders signed a historic peace agreement calling for a withdrawal of government forces from the region and a disarming of rebel troops in a bid to end decades of bloodshed. Iraq The drafting of Iraq's constitution headed for a nail-biting finish as leaders battled to meet an evening deadline for the first post-Saddam Hussein charter amid persistent differences over federalism and the role of Islam. US A top aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of the Al-Qaeda operation in Iraq and who has played a key role in masterminding several high-profile suicide bombing in the country, has been killed by Iraqi security forces, defense officials confirmed. Greece Emergency teams have recovered the bodies of 119 of the 121 people on board a Cypriot airliner which crashed near Athens amid accounts of an apparent crisis in the plane's cockpit, as well as the plane's second flight recorder, Greek authorities said. Japan Japan marked the 60th anniversary of its defeat in World War II with a new apology to Asian nations still resentful of how the Japanese remember their role in the deadliest conflict in history. Iran Iran named the hardline former head of the state broadcast media Ali Larijani as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, putting him in charge of nuclear policy amid a standoff with the international community, public television said. SriLanka Sri Lanka was to hold a state funeral for its slain foreign minister as President Chandrika Kumaratunga vowed to keep together a ceasefire with the Tamil rebels whom she blamed for his assassination. Malaysia Malaysia deployed 125 firefighters to battle hundreds of blazes on Indonesia's Sumatra island which last week blanketed Malaysia with choking clouds of smoke and dust. India Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that peace talks with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan over Kashmir had achieved "some success", as the nation celebrated its 58th anniversary of independence amid high security.