Iraq Insurgents in Iraq downed a Bulgarian helicopter with a missile strike, killing all 11 occupants, as foreign security workers found themselves increasingly caught in the line of fire. Italy Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said after talks with his partners in the outgoing coalition that he would be ready to form a new government Friday, thereby ending a crisis which forced his resignation and avoiding snap elections. Asia Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi voiced a powerful apology for Japan's wartime record, speaking at an Asia-Africa summit. Japan "squarely" acknowledged the damage and suffering caused by colonial aggression across Asia with "deep remorse", Koizumi told the conference in Jakarta attended by Chinese President Hu Jintao. Japan Japanese lawmakers made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine that honours World War II dead, including war criminals, amid a heated row with Beijing, which has repeatedly protested such visits. Nepal Nepal has set free 61 people, including a former deputy premier, held under house arrest since King Gyanendra sacked his government and seized absolute power on February 1, police said. Togo Togo's Interior Minister Francois Esso Boko called for Sunday's presidential election to be suspended and a transitional regime installed, warning the poll could put the African country on the slippery slope to violence. Spain Spanish deputies approved a government bill allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children, which if, as expected, is endorsed by the Senate will make Spain only the third European country to allow gay marriages. Ecuador Brazil and Ecuador are negotiating the fate of ousted Ecuadoran leader Lucio Gutierrez as his vice president formally took over and announced a new government. Mideast Defence chiefs recommended that Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip be delayed until the middle of August in a proposal likely to be accepted by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Vatican Pope Benedict XVI acted to confirm the Vatican's senior officials in their posts in a sign of continuity with his predecessor's conservative legacy, and vowed in a message to promote dialogue with Jews. US US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up pressure on Belarus, saying elections next year in the ex-Soviet state must be free and fair and defending protestors' right to take to the streets. Canada Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, under pressure from a flurry of scandals alleging kickbacks for government contracts, pledged to hold a general election within 30 days of the completion of a judicial inquiry into the scandals. US The US Senate confirmed President George W. Bush's nominee John Negroponte to become the first-ever director of national intelligence, making him the new central authority for all US espionage operations.