Mideast Israel was bringing down the curtain on its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip as police and troops evicted the last remaining settlers from the Palestinian territory. Mideast Hundreds of West Bank settlers, some armed with primitive weapons and stun grenades, prepared to confront troops sent to evict them from their homes in the heart of biblical Israel. Vatican Pope Benedict XVI, having drawn a million people to hear him speak at a global youth festival, looks to have stamped his own mark on the papacy, observers said after his first foreign trip as pontiff. Iraq Iraq's leaders were still at loggerheads hours before a crucial constitution deadline expires, favouring dissolving parliament rather than further extensions to agree on the new charter, sources close to negotiations said. Iraq-Pakistan-India-Egypt Kidnappers in Iraq have released 11 Pakistanis, three Egyptians and two Indians who were abducted earlier this month, the foreign ministry in Pakistan said. Afghanistan-US US and Afghan forces have killed at least 105 Taliban militants in the past three weeks in operations to increase security before key legislative elections, the American military said. Britain Two senior Brazilian officials were due to arrive in Britain to grill police officers and investigators about the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber exactly a month ago.