Greece A dramatic 19-hour hostage-siege on board a bus near Athens ended without bloodshed after two apparently Albanian gunmen freed the last of a group of 23 hostages and surrendered to police. Iraq At least seven people were killed when a bomb exploded in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, raising the death toll from a string of deadly attacks ahead of January's general elections. Sudan The Sudanese government has agreed to stop a military offensive in Darfur province in a move that could prompt the two main rebel groups to end their boycott of African Union-sponsored peace talks here, the chief AU mediator said. US US President George W. Bush warns Iran and Syria against "meddling" in Iraq, even as US military officials said those countries' post-Saddam Hussein influence is hard to assess. Mideast Palestinian hardliners rejected a call by new PLO chief Mahmud Abbas to lay down their weapons as a spiralling death toll in Gaza threatened to undermine his efforts to bring calm to the region. Japan-Taiwan Japan said it will issue a visa to Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui, three years after his previous visit soured relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Britain British Home Secretary David Blunkett, one of Prime Minister Tony Blair's closest allies, resigned after admitting his office had fast-tracked a visa application for his ex-lover's Filipina nanny. Australia The Australian government warned that it had received specific intelligence suggesting an imminent attack by extremists in Indonesia, possibly targeting a Hilton hotel. Italy-Iraq An Italian national working for a British non-governmental organisation has been taken hostage in Iraq, the Italian news agency ANSA reported quoting Italian intelligence sources. US The United States quietly eased sanctions against three of its old nemeses -- Cuba, Iran and Sudan -- to facilitate literary and scientific exchanges that could help foster dissent there. Pakistan-India Pakistan and India agreed to push forward plans for a nuclear hotline after two days of talks but failed to reach a deal on advance warning of ballistic missile tests.