Iraq Iraq is hoping the international forum on its future will build confidence between neighbours of the country and US-led multinational forces, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP in an interview. Mideast French doctors who carried out tests on the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat discovered no trace of any known poison, his nephew Nasser al-Qidwa said, while adding he could not rule out the possibility of poisoning. Mideast US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington would support the Palestinian election after top-level talks that signalled a shift in US policy after the death of Yasser Arafat. Ukraine Ukraine's pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich was poised to win a presidential runoff vote, as the pro-Western opposition cried foul and urged supporters to protest alleged ballot fraud "until victory." Iran The UN atomic watchdog should be able to verify by Thursday whether Iran has suspended uranium enrichment as promised, its chief Mohamed ElBaradei said. EU The European Union's new executive commission took office after a three-week delay facing yet another fierce row over one of its members, French commissioner in charge of transport Jacques Barrot, who escaped legal action in the 1990s over the financing of his Social Democratic Centre party thanks to a presidential amnesty. Britain Oil prices pushed higher, extending sharp gains seen late last week as cold weather forecasts for the United States and Europe rattled markets nervous about tight winter supplies. EU EU defence ministers agreed to create 13 so-called battle groups, 1,500-strong tactical military units which can be deployed rapidly to crisis situations around the world, Dutch minister Henk Kamp said. Afghanistan US and Afghan forces staged a dramatic pre-dawn raid on three houses in southwest Kabul in a bid to locate and free a trio of foreign UN hostages held for over three weeks, officials said. China Investigators ruled out sabotage as the cause of a plane crash that killed 54 people in northern China, as they examined debris for clues as to why the commuter jet plunged into an icy lake. China The death toll from a fire at five connected iron ore mines in northern China rose to 57 after more bodies were lifted out of the smoke-filled shafts, as those in charge of the operation were detained.