Iraq The British-Irish-Iraqi aid executive Margaret Hassan, kidnapped by rebels in Iraq, appeared to have been killed by her captors, her employer said, as US-led forces swept into the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in a renewed offensive against insurgents. US President George W. Bush nominated national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of his closest confidants, to replace departing Secretary of State Colin Powell. Iraq The US military promised a thorough investigation into the killing of a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner by a US marine in Fallujah -- an act filmed by a journalist and broadcast around the world. Spain The Spanish supreme court sentenced a 16-year-old implicated in the March 11 Madrid train bombings to six years in youth detention after he pleaded guilty to handling explosives used in Spain's worst terrorist attack. Mideast Hamas announced it would boycott the election of a successor to Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority, further clearing the path for PLO leader Mahmud Abbas in January's contest. US US Secretary of State Colin Powell will go to Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend in a bid to maintain Middle East peace efforts before he leaves office, the State Department said. ICoast Backers of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo cried foul after the UN Security Council slapped an arms embargo on the divided west African state after 10 days of turmoil that sparked an exodus of foreigners and nationals. India A battalion of paratroopers left this northern Kashmir town, the first Indian troops to be redeployed out of the volatile state, an AFP correspondent said. The withdrawal coincides with a visit to Kashmir by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Thailand Thailand's respected queen has made a rare public appeal for the nation to unite to end violence in the country's troubled Muslim-majority south where nearly 550 people have died this year. SriLanka Sri Lanka's president has asked Tamil Tiger rebels to decide within two weeks whether they wish to resume talks which have remained deadlocked for 19 months, state-run media reported.