Iraq The suspected murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq was widely condemned as a wave of unrest across Sunni Muslim hotspots killed more than 20 people, many of them women and children. Iraq US-led forces were back in control of most police stations and the governor's building in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after a major offensive against insurgents. Russia President Vladimir Putin served notice that Russia intended to remain a major nuclear power by deploying a new weapon in the coming years that other states lack and are unlikely to develop in the near future. Mideast Doctors who treated Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat believe he died of a blood clotting disorder and ruled out poisoning, France's respected Le Monde newspaper reported. Chile Chilean anti-riot forces fired tear gas and water cannon at student protesters, three days before President George W. Bush's arrival for a weekend Asia-Pacific summit. Iran Iran warned that its agreement to suspend sensitive nuclear activities in order to ease fears it is seeking the bomb was subject to rapid progress in a new round of negotiations to begin next month. Ivory Coast The African Union voiced "grave concern" at the turmoil ravaging Ivory Coast and proposed an urgent summit as President Laurent Gbagbo was hit with a lawsuit over the deaths of nine French troops. Mideast New PLO leader Mahmud Abbas sought to rally left-wing support for a Palestinian presidential election after failing to persuade the radical Islamist group Hamas to join the political mainstream. India Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dangled a multi-billion-dollar plan for peace before Kashmiris as he pulled an army battalion out of the insurgency-hit state and hinted at further troop cuts. Britain On the eve of an official visit to London, French President Jacques Chirac has said he is "not at all sure" that the world has become safer since the downfall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. US CIA Director Porter Goss reminded agency employees that they are not to "identify with, support or champion opposition" to the US administration in the latest salvo of a struggle for political control of the intelligence agency. Argentina Bombs exploded at three banks in the Argentine capital, two owned by US giant Citibank, killing one man and injuring a bomb disposal expert -- but police said the identity of the attackers remained a mystery.