Iraq A US soldier at the heart of a prisoner abuse scandal pleaded guilty to a range of charges, as a foreign aid group halted work in Iraq after its Baghdad chief was kidnapped and four children died in a wave of car bombings. Iran The United States said it would be "concerned" by Iran's acquisition of any new nuclear technology, signaling opposition to a reported European offer to give Tehran a light-water reactor it proves it is not secretly developing atomic weapons. US John Kerry charged that George W. Bush's "failures" had left America more exposed to terrorism, while the president blasted his challenger for failing to see the "true dangers" in a post-September 11 world. China Some 56 people were killed and a further 100 reported missing in a coal mine blast in central China, according to state media citing local officials. UN In an about-face acknowledging the rough situation on the ground in Iraq, UN officials said they would no longer object to US soldiers protecting their personnel in the country. Lebanon Lebanon's billionaire Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri resigned and vowed he would not be heading the next government, bringing to a head a political crisis that has paralysed the country for weeks. Corruption Corruption is crippling the battle against poverty and robbing oil-rich countries such as Iraq of their development potential, a respected global graft watchdog said in an annual report on sleaze. Afghanistan Yunus Qanooni, Hamid Karzai's chief rival in Afghanistan's presidential election, said he will accept the outcome as Karzai swept the country's south and southeast en route to outright victory. France Three more Muslim schoolgirls were expelled in France for flouting a controversial law on the wearing of religious insignia in schools.