Iraq Aid worker Margaret Hassan, who spent much of her life helping the people of Iraq, was believed to have been murdered by her kidnappers after a video emerged showing a blindfolded woman being shot in the head. Iraq Fighting raged in southern Fallujah, with US forces pounding insurgent positions, according to an AFP photographer accompanying the American troops. Iran A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was only likely to suspend sensitive nuclear activities surrounding the enrichment of uranium for a few months. Sudan The leader of Sudan's main southern rebel group has told US President George W. Bush that a comprehensive deal to end more than 20 years of war with Khartoum would be clinched just days after peace negotiations resume on November 26, a rebel spokesman said. Zimbabwe Zimbabwe's parliament was expected to pass a bill banning international rights groups despite a damning report from its legal committee which said the proposed law breached key aspects of the constitution. US US President George W. Bush nominated national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of his closest confidants, to replace departing Secretary of State Colin Powell. 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. India-Kashmir Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew into a security nightmare after a deadly gunbattle erupted at the scene of a rally he was to hold marking the start of army withdrawals from insurgency-wracked Kashmir. Afghanistan The US military is hopeful three UN workers held hostage for three weeks in Afghanistan will be released unharmed, US military spokesman Major Scott Nelson said. Japan Japan's ruling party is eyeing an overhaul of the post-war constitution to allow the military to use force in international missions and let a woman ascend the throne, reports said.