Iraq Kidnapped British aid worker Margaret Hassan begged Prime Minister Tony Blair in a video to save her life by scrapping the planned redeployment of British troops and pulling them out of Iraq. UN Russia's parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol in a historic vote that virtually guaranteed the UN global warming pact would finally enter into force. Mideast Israel's killing of a top Hamas fighter in Gaza prompted calls for vengeance by the radical Islamic group, days ahead of a critical parliament vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate the territory. EU European smokers face seeing graphic photographs showing a man with a tumour on his neck or a dead body in a mortuary on their cigarette packets, under new plans. Uganda Kampala rejected a comparison drawn by a top UN official between the conflicts in northern Uganda and Sudan's Darfur, insisting the war against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army was almost over. US President George W. Bush derided his rival John Kerry as clueless in the fight against terror and drove the point home in a powerful commercial featuring a pack of wolves ready to pounce. China The death toll from a devastating coal mine gas explosion in central China's Henan province rose to 66 as hopes of finding survivors among a further 82 trapped workers faded. France A French court examining an appeal from three Sikh youths suspended from classes for wearing an under-turban ordered the school authorities to hold a disciplinary hearing so they can formally state their case. EU The incoming head of the European Commission was left scrambling for votes ahead of a crunch vote next week, when EU lawmakers are threatening to veto his new team even before it takes office.