Iraq At least 30 people were killed in Iraq as insurgents intensified attacks on Iraqi and US targets, and election workers backed by troops started distributing ballot boxes for the vote in just two days' time. Iraq Iraq's first free votes since the downfall of Saddam Hussein were being cast on Friday as thousands of Iraqis exiled around the world took advantage of arrangements to let expatriates have their say. Mideast Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas called for a swift response from Israel to demands for a mutual ceasefire with militants, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke of a possible breakthrough. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, barely settled in her new office, will leave next week on a tour of eight European nations and the Middle East to start tackling a daunting foreign policy agenda, officials said. Sudan About 100 people were killed in an air raid on a town in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region, bringing the death toll to at least 150 in the past two weeks despite a truce, the African Union said. Bangladesh The death toll from a grenade attack on a Bangladesh opposition party rally has risen to five with the deaths overnight of a former finance minister and another party activist, police said. Davos The director general of the World Trade Organisation, Supachai Panitchpakdi, urged member states to speed up global trade talks and map out their objectives by February 14. US US aircraft maker Boeing said it has reached a "substantial" deal to sell its new fuel-efficient 7E7 Dreamliner to Chinese airlines. Britain Britain's government was forced into a swift defence of planned new anti-terror laws allowing suspects -- including Britons -- to be held indefinitely under house arrest without trial, measures condemned by one newspaper as "unprecedented in peacetime". Asia Negotiating teams from Indonesia's government and the main rebel movement in Aceh province, where a long-running conflict was overshadowed by last month's devastating tsunami disaster, arrived in Finland for peace talks, officials said. China The funeral of purged Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang will take place on Saturday, his family and the government told AFP, but his official legacy looks set to remain in limbo.