EU Turkey and the EU's Dutch presidency struck an agreement to end an impasse blocking accord on launching EU membership talks with Ankara, a Turkish diplomat said. EU Turkey could be asked only for a verbal commitment to recognise Cyprus before it can join the European Union, EU sources said as leaders sought to strike a deal logjamming a key summit. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's optimism for peace in 2005 was dealt a blow with the killing of five Palestinians by Israeli troops during an incursion in Gaza. Romania Romanian President Ion Iliescu cancelled a pardon of former miners' leader Miron Cozma who had led violent anti-government protests in the early 1990s after an outcry against the decision, a spokeswoman said. UN The United Nations said it recently found a bugging device at its European headquarters in Geneva, while a UN source hinted that similar devices may have been discovered in the past. Russia Russia pushed ahead with the weekend auction of the core asset of oil giant Yukos despite a US court order barring the sale, a rare legal victory that is unlikely to prevent the state from gaining control. Ukraine Ukraine's presidential rivals were to travel to this eastern industrial city hoping to build support in a key swing constituency where liberal intellectuals compete for influence with some of the country's most entrenched business interests. Gambia Veteran AFP journalist Deida Hydara, hailed as the dean of the Gambian press corps, was shot and killed in the Gambian capital Banjul, his family and colleagues said. Iraq Preparations to put Saddam Hussein on trial intensified with a first meeting between the ousted Iraqi president and a member of the defence team appointed by his family. NKorea Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated that economic sanctions against North Korea would be a last resort as he opened a summit with South Korea, which urged him to stay cool. NKorea Seven people believed to be North Koreans rushed into a Japanese school in the Chinese capital seeking refuge, the latest in a steady stream of defectors from the Stalinist state. Australia The father of an 18-year-old Australian who was ripped to pieces by a great white shark countered demands that it be killed, saying the predators should be "appreciated and respected".