Iraq Officials were due to unveil a new Iraqi government after a day of violence in which nearly 60 bodies were fished out of the Tigris river, 19 Iraqi army soldiers were executed in a football stadium and outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi dodged a late-night assassination attempt. China French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin vowed his government would continue to push for the lifting of the "anachronistic" and "discriminatory" EU arms embargo against China. Italy Italy's embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offered his resignation in a bid to resolve a row threatening to tear apart his four-year-old coalition. Ecuador Ecuador's Congress removed controversial president Lucio Gutierrez from office after a week of increasingly violent street protests and installed his vice president, Alfredo Palacio, as the new head of state. Vatican The Vatican started to adjust to a new era under Pope Benedict XVI as the wider world took a first measure of the man who has emerged from the shadow of his charismatic predecessor. Russia US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, balancing her harsh criticisms of Russia's democratic record, called Moscow a "strategic partner" and urged boosted cooperation on several fronts during talks with President Vladimir Putin. UN The United Nations said the UN envoy to North Korea, Canadian Maurice Strong, would be replaced during a probe into his ties with a lobbyist accused in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. Mideast The Israeli army began removing equipment from bases in Gaza in preparation for the pullout from the territory as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned of Palestinian looting in the wake of the withdrawal. India The second running of a historic trans-Kashmir bus service began under tight security from Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, despite threats to disrupt it by Islamic militants, police said. Philippines Armed men abducted 19 people, most of them university students, in the troubled southern Philippine island of Mindanao, the military said. France A majority of French voters still say they will vote against the European constitution in a May 29 referendum, but support for the 'no' camp seems to be waning, according to an opinion poll released. Zambia At least 46 people were killed in a blast at a Chinese-owned explosives factory at a copper mine in Zambia and the toll was expected to rise, Mines Minister Kaunda Lembalemba said. India At least 11 people were killed and more than 80 injured when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train in western India, police and officials said.