Iran Britain, France and Germany -- were to give Iran a last chance to reassure the world it is not secretly developing atomic weapons, offering valuable nuclear technology as a carrot and possible United Nations sanctions as the stick. EU Incoming European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso faced a grilling by European Parliament party leaders over his controversial nomination of Italy's Rocco Buttiglione for the post of European justice commissioner. Cuba Cuban President Fidel Castro, who is 78, suffered a fall which may have broken an arm and a knee, but he laughed it off and assured Cubans he remained in good spirits and "in one piece". Iraq The British government was expected to agree to a US request to send hundreds of its troops to a high-risk zone south of Baghdad, a move that risks infuriating Labour's own backbench MPs. Japan Japan was searching for survivors after the country's deadliest typhoon in more than a decade killed at least 54 people, crushed houses, overturned trains and left passengers stranded on flooded highways. China An underground gas explosion ripped through a mine in central China killing at least 56 workers and leaving nearly 100 missing in one of the worst mining disasters in recent memory, officials said. Afghanistan Afghan President Hamid Karzai was on course for a clear victory in the country's historic election, with more than half the votes counted and his closest rival agreeing to accept the outcome despite earlier complaining of fraud. US US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was to make an atypical hunting trip to rural Ohio in a bid to woo traditionalist male voters, while President George W. Bush courted Catholics in Pennsylvania less than two weeks before election day. Lebanon Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud began consultations on forming a new government after the shock resignation of billionaire Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri amid a dispute over the influence Damascus wields in its tiny neighbour. Sudan The African Union is to increase sevenfold, to 3,320, the number of military and civilian monitors for the shaky ceasefire in Sudan's war-ravaged western Darfur region, the pan-African body said in a statement. Mideast The Israeli authorities either helped finance or turned a blind eye to scores of unauthorised Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, according to a report published by the Haaretz daily.