Iraq The US military investigated how a suicide bomber managed to penetrate a high security army base in an attack that killed 22 people, as small groups of residents trickled home to war-battered Fallujah. Iraq The first groups of Fallujah residents were briefly admitted to the former Iraqi rebel bastion to survey the damage to their homes six weeks after a devastating US-led assault on the city of 300,000 people. Afghanistan Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appointed a new cabinet which pushes out warlords and installs technocrats capable of fighting drugs and driving reform, the presidential palace said. India Tributes poured in following the death of former Indian prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who launched the country on the path of free-market reforms in 1991. Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the state's takeover of the main asset of the Yukos oil giant, saying the first post-Soviet renationalisation was to ensure Russia's interests. Ukraine Western observers deployed in Ukraine to monitor a presidential vote rerun this weekend as Russian President Vladimir Putin again attacked the West's role and motives in the former Soviet republic. Britain The euro passed 1.35 dollars for the first time since its launch on foreign exchange markets in 1999, reaching a record high level of 1.3502 in late European trading. Mideast Palestinians voted in the first council elections for three decades amid a row over British Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to prepare the birth of a democratic state at a London conference. Thailand Thousands of police reinforcements are being sent to Thailand's south after warnings of a bombing campaign targeting tourist spots before the first anniversary of a separatist insurgency, police said. US A Texas woman paid 50,000 dollars for a clone of her pet cat Nicky, who died last year, making her the first owner of a commercial copy cat.