NKorea North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of aid and security, the first major breakthrough in more than two years of deadlock over the high-stakes crisis. Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his conservative challenger Angela Merkel locked horns in a power struggle to rule Germany after a cliffhanger general election left Europe's biggest economy in political limbo. Germany Germany's razor-edge election result adds yet more bad news for the European Union, leaving its largest member state in disarray at a time of deep crisis in the bloc, analysts said. Afghanistan Election workers used trucks, helicopters and camels to collect ballot boxes from across Afghanistan after an estimated 50 percent of the electorate voted for a legislature for the first time in more than 30 years. Lebanon A Lebanese man was killed when a parcel bomb blew up in the Kuwaiti information office in a shopping district of west Beirut, police said. Iran The UN atomic watchdog met to assess a Western drive for UN action against Iran's nuclear fuel programme, that could be weapons-related, which faces opposition from Russia and non-aligned countries, diplomats said. Iraq Iraq: Iraqi journalist Fakher Haidar al-Tamimi, who worked for foreign media in the country, was found shot dead in the southern city of Basra after he was kidnapped overnight, his wife said. Iraq Iraq: Iraqi security services were deployed in their thousands around the holy city of Karbala for a Shiite religious festival expected to attract three million pilgrims. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon admitted he was in danger of being ousted from the helm of his right-wing Likud faction as polls showed party power-brokers favoured a leadership contest as early as November. Mideast-Israel-Palestinian In the wake of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has set his sights on preventing Hamas from participating in the Palestinian elections and pushing the Palestinian Authority to exert control in the evacuated Gaza Strip.