Afghanistan Two bomb blasts ripped through the southern Afghan city of Kandahar killing five people and injuring 31 hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the country, officials said. Afghanistan US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Afghanistan, a flagship for American efforts to promote democracy in the Islamic world, for talks with President Hamid Karzai on reconstruction and the fight against drugs. US The US Army has asked Congress to allow it to extend enlistment contracts offered to future soldiers by two years in order to "stabilize the force," as top defense officials warned that key recruitment targets for the year could be missed. Lebanon The Syrian army completed the first phase of a military withdrawal from Lebanon, with 4,000 troops having returned to Syria and a roughly equal number re-deployed to eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese army source said. Russia The powerful head of Russia's electricity monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, escaped unharmed when his car was raked with automatic weapons fire following an explosion, police said. US President George W. Bush and other top US officials gave high profile support to the family of a Belfast man believed to have been murdered by Irish Republican Army members, in a case which has inflamed Northern Ireland's peace process. China Up to 30 people were killed and seven injured when a double-decker bus was destroyed after a nearby truck laden with explosives and fireworks blew up, state press and local officials said. Commodities The price of Brent North Sea crude oil reached a new record high point of 55.25 dollars per barrel in trading here amid concerns of a supply crunch despite OPEC's move to hike output. OPEC OPEC could start discussing a second increase in its oil production ceiling as soon as next week if crude prices hold at current levels, Kuwaiti Energy Minister and OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said. US The nomination of the Pentagon's number two man Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank got mixed reviews from leading US dailies, which contrasted his crucial role in forging Washington's Iraq policy with his past experience in the developing world. Canada The acquittal of two Sikhs in the Air India bombing trial in Canada, is unfair but has come too late to matter, some relatives in India of victims of the 1985 bombing said.