EU Major European powers and Iran have agreed to continue talks over Tehran's nuclear programme amid signs they could strike a deal soon, ministers and negotiators said after a last-ditch meeting to avert an escalation. Iraq Some 1,000 US and Iraqi troops launched a new raid against insurgents, killing 10 suspects including a Muslim cleric, after reports that Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been wounded. Uzbekistan Uzbek President Islam Karimov met with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, vowing to step up the fight against terrorism, as he sought backing for his crackdown against anti-government protestors. Mideast Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, on his first official visit to Washington since his election in January, pleaded the Palestinian cause before the US Congress, traditionally partial to Israel, on the eve of his meeting with US President George W. Bush. EU Torn between resignation and desperation, supporters of the EU constitution in France were engaged in a last-ditch attempt to reverse the lead of the "no" camp ahead of this weekend's referendum. Indonesia The United States closed its embassy and other diplomatic missions in Indonesia after the latest in a series of security alerts in the terrorism-blighted mainly Muslim country. US Detainees interviewed by FBI agents at Guantanamo Bay complained repeatedly that military guards and interrogators mistreated the Koran, with one alleging that the Muslim holy book had been flushed in a toilet. nesty-rights-attacks Pakistan Pakistan and India began talks on a military stand-off over a Kashmir glacier, with Islamabad expected to push for a troop withdrawal to positions both sides held more than three decades ago. Egypt Red-faced Egyptian returning officers put a brave face on voter turnout in a referendum the authorities had billed as a key test of support for tentative reforms, but empty polling stations around the capital told a different story. Thailand A Thai policeman was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering two British tourists last year following a row outside a restaurant in western Thailand.