Uzbekistan The Uzbek government whisked dozens of foreign diplomats to the site of last week's deadly clashes between soldiers and protestors, but some complained that they were unable to meet any of the locals. Iraq Iraq's defence minister vowed to regain the upper hand over the country's bloody insurgency, even as 11 people were killed in separate attacks, bringing the death toll for the bloody month of May close to 500. Mideast The Israeli government was set to accelerate its preparations for the pullout from the Gaza Strip as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voiced concern about the state of readiness. Mideast-China-Palestinian Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas met with China's most powerful politicians, receiving promises of economic cooperation from an Asian giant eager to expand its influence in the Middle East region. NKorea South Korea said it would champion a "more acceptable" deal for North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons ambitions in a bid to break the year-long deadlock in the nuclear standoff. NKorea Already severe food shortages in North Korea are escalating to crisis levels as UN World Food Programme (WFP) supplies to the reclusive Stalinist state run out, a spokesman said.