Iraq US troops and insurgents battled on the edge of rebel-held Fallujah and nine policemen were killed in an ambush, as UN chief Kofi Annan said he did not think the invasion of Iraq had made the world a safer place. Britain Some 750 British troops could be deployed in previously US-patrolled hotspots just south of Baghdad as their American counterparts are sent to take part in a major offensive in rebel-held Fallujah, a report here said. US George W. Bush and challenger John Kerry were dueling for votes in Florida, where early polling opened in a deadlocked race soured by memories of the 2000 election debacle. Mideast Talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and settlers fiercely opposed to his Gaza pullout plan ended in acrimony amid warnings that the country could now face civil war. Sudan An African summit meeting wound up here with a joint statement rejecting any "foreign intervention" in the crisis-torn Sudanese region of Darfur and voicing strong support for the Sudanese government which is threatened with international sanctions over the situation. EU Interior ministers from the five largest western European states remained deeply split, in talks here, over a controversial plan to create holding centres for Europe-bound migrants in Africa. NKorea A high-ranking North Korean delegation headed by the Stalinist state's number two leader arrived in China amid faltering attempts to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program. Belarus Voters in Belarus overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional changes to allow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko to seek a third tem in office, according to provisional results of a weekend referendum. Vatican Pope John Paul II thanked well-wishers who celebrated the 26th anniversary of his election as pontiff but warned of "threatening shadows" hanging over humanity.