EU The incoming head of the European Commission backed down in a high-stakes standoff with EU lawmakers, withdrawing his proposed team and plunging the EU into uncharted constitutional waters. Iraq British soldiers began to roll out of southern Iraq on a risky mission nearer Baghdad as Tokyo stod firm after militants linked to Iraq's most wanted man threatened to behead a Japanese hostage. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was savouring a dramatic victory for his Gaza pullout plan after MPs gave the green light to the first ever evacuation of occupied Palestinian territory. Iran Iran returned to talks here with Europe's three major powers aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over its nuclear program, although diplomats were sceptical of a breakthrough. Thailand Thailand's premier announced an inquiry into the death of 78 Muslim protesters who were rounded up by troops and crammed into trucks, amid international protests and fears of further violence in the tense region. Afghanistan Election officials fanned out across Afghanistan to inspect several dozen suspicious ballot boxes that are delaying the end of the presidential vote count and the declaration of Hamid Karzai as the violence-weary nation's first popularly chosen leader. Sudan Peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels from the war-torn region of Darfur broke after less than an hour, despite a promise from the administration to consider a power-sharing deal. South Africa Mark Thatcher's lawyers wrapped up arguments against a subpoena forcing him to answer questions on his alleged role in a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea and said they could appeal South Africa's highest court if the ruling went against him. SriLanka Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have not abandoned their right to secede despite agreeing to explore a federal solution, the rebels said amid fresh diplomatic moves to salvage a faltering peace bid. Japan Rescue workers found two young children and the body of their mother four days after their car was buried by a landslide, as the death toll from Japan's earthquake and aftershocks rose to 32. Britain Britain announced a raft of new measures to crack down on forced marriages, a problem some advocates claim has trapped one out of 10 women of South Asian origin in the country. Germany A German court made a landmark ruling that a six-year-old boy who was badly burned in the bombing of tourists in Tunisia two years ago has no right to compensation from Europe's biggest travel group TUI.