US-Afghanistan US President George W. Bush and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai signed a "strategic partnership" enabling long term American involvement in Afghanistan's security as well as reconstruction. Germany German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called a vote of confidence in his government for July 1, a high-stakes gamble to force an early general election opinion polls show he will lose. Iraq Nineteen people were killed in a new spate of car bombing in Iraq, including eight in a blast that tore through a Baghdad restaurant packed with lunchtime customers. Iran Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered hardliners to review their decision to block reformists from standing in next month's presidential polls, fearing the disqualifications could result in a boycott. Japan-China Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that had been billed as a way to resolve bilateral tension and warned Tokyo it must work to turn around ties. China China urged people not to panic as it scrambled to vaccinate three million birds in response to the first confirmed outbreak of avian flu in nearly a year. UN-Lebanon-Syria UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the world body has verified that Syria has "fully" withdrawn its troops from neighboring Lebanon. Iran Senior Iranian officials were heading to Europe for crisis talks with Britain, France and Germany, amid warnings that the meetings may be the last chance for a deal on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme. China-US-EU China threatened to renege on a promise to impose tariffs on 74 categories of textile products if the same items were subject to limits from US and European governments. Britain The BBC, the world's biggest public broadcaster, dropped live news programs when thousands of employees staged a 24-hour strike over plans to cut nearly 4,000 jobs.