Iraq Iraq's tiny Christian community was targeted in a string of blasts at churches around Baghdad, while a medic was killed when a mortar round exploded outside a hospital. Iraq US troops have arrested a Sunni Muslim cleric accused of preaching holy war on the first day of Islam's sacred month of Ramadan, the US military announced. Indonesia Indonesian prosecutors have charged hardline Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir with involvement in the nightclub bombings in the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people. Russia A rookie crew of two Russians and an American had a few scary moments as their craft approached too quickly to the International Space Station for docking before they put on the brakes in time to avoid a crash. Afghanistan The vote count in Afghanistan's historic election resumed with President Hamid Karzai far ahead of his rivals in early results, as a new surge in attacks left seven people dead, including two US soldiers. US The US presidential rivals criss-crossed battleground states hoping to sway undecided voters as the campaign clock ticked down. Iraq An Iraqi press photographer working for a European agency was shot dead outside his home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the second Iraqi journalist to be murder in Iraq in the past week, media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said. Iran Iran will reject any European proposal for a complete cessation of its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, but might be willing to consider further "confidence-building" measures and extend its suspension of uranium enrichment, a top official said. India India's Congress-led alliance held onto power in the nation's richest state, Maharashtra, after winning the most seats in assembly elections and dealing a humiliating defeat to the opposition Hindu nationalists. Mideast Palestinians surveyed the widespread devastation inflicted by Israeli troops during an 18-day military operation in the northern Gaza Strip, after the troops redeployed overnight -- comparing the scene to the aftermath of an earthquake. Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo, which is emerging from five years of bloody warfare, "will allow no further aggression," warned President Joseph Kabila on his first visit to the restive east of this vast central African country.