Iraq Nine Iraqi policemen were killed south of Baghdad and two American helicopters crashed in Iraq, bringing the US death toll to six in under 24 hours, while US warplanes struck a rebel checkpoint in Fallujah at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Britain Thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of central London to protest against the war in Iraq as Prime Minister Tony Blair struggled to shake-off fierce criticism of the invasion. US Major US newspapers began rolling out their presidential endorsements, with The New York Times, the nation's leading daily tipping its hat to Democrat John Kerry and a raft of smaller papers following suit. France Pierre Salinger, who served as press secretary to two US presidents, has died of a heart attack near his home in southern France, and is to be buried in his native United States, his French wife said. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet settler leaders who are fiercely opposed to his Gaza pullout plan as his cabinet convened for the last time before giving its verdict on the project. Israel French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier arrived in Israel for a two-day visit which marks a determination by both countries to draw a line under a series of diplomatic disputes. Belarus Belarusians voted in a constitutional referendum on whether their authoritarian leader President Alexander Lukashenko could run for a third term amid Western fears of a rigged vote in the isolated ex-Soviet republic. Italy Interior ministers from five leading European Union states gathered in the Italian city of Florence hoping to smooth out differences over how to tackle illegal immigration and strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Japan North Korea has already completed the development of plutonium-based nuclear weapons with the help of Pakistan, a senior Japanese official said. Congo Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila continued his landmark visit to the troubled east of the vast central African country. Sudan Leaders from Sudan and four neighbouring states were to meet in the Libyan capital to push for an end to the conflict in Darfur that has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered a desperate humanitarian crisis.