Iraq More than 40 unarmed Iraqi army recruits were gunned down execution-style in a remote area of eastern Iraq, officials said, while a US diplomat was killed in a mortar attack on a military base in Baghdad. Afghanistan Interim leader Hamid Karzai has won the required number of votes for outright victory in Afghanistan's first presidential election, his supporters and his chief rival said. Iran Iran rejected European demands that it halt all uranium enrichment activities and described a proposal aimed at ending Tehran's nuclear standoff with the international community as "unbalanced." US The CIA has secretly transferred detainees out of Iraq for interrogation after asking the US Justice Department to write a memo justifying the practice, which violates the Geneva Conventions, The Washington Post reported. Mideast The Israeli cabinet approved a compensation package for settlers who are set to be uprooted from their homes on the eve of a crunch debate on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip. Tunisia Tunisians were casting their ballots in presidential and legislative elections lacking any suspense as the ruling party of long-time President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was set to claim victory. Japan Japan was hit by strong aftershocks after 21 people died and more than 900 were injured in powerful earthquakes that struck within days of the country's worst typhoon in a quarter-century. US John Kerry and George Bush swapped tropical Florida for parched New Mexico as they wooed long converted and still uncertain voters in the waning days of the White House race. Lithuania Lithuanians voted in the second round of elections to parliament expected to hand the most seats to a Russian-born tycoon's party, giving him a likely government role in this new EU member. Sudan European Union foreign policy envoy Javier Solana reiterated a pledge to finance more than half the cost of an African Union force in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur. India The head of Indian Kashmir's main opposition party, Omar Abdullah, survived an assassination bid for the second time in a month when rebels exploded a bomb a few steps away from him, police said.