Mideast Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in a stable condition, officials said as doctors arrived at his bedside to carry out tests and decide if he needs hospital treatment. Iraq At least two Iraqis were killed in clashes between US troops and insurgents in the restive city of Ramadi, as a US soldier was killed when a car bomb hit a convoy in Baghdad and a Polish woman was reportedly taken hostage in the violence-wracked country. Iraq Japan raced against the clock to free a young Japanese hostage in Iraq but had little reason for hope hours before the deadline set by al-Qaeda-linked kidnappers for his killing, while a Polish-Iraqi woman was abducted in Iraq. EU Italy's support for a conservative with outspoken views on gays and women as Europe's justice chief looked increasingly untenable, as incoming EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso indicated he would bow to pressure to reshuffle his team. Afghanistan Armed men dressed in army uniforms abducted three foreign UN election workers in Kabul as final votes in Afghanistan's historical presidential poll were counted. A group calling itself the Army of Muslims claimed responsibility. Russia Thousands of Russians took to the streets on opposite sides of the barricades over President Vladimir Putin's controversial reforms aimed at tightening the Kremlin's grip over the nation in the wake of the Beslan hostage tragedy. Russia Thirteen miners were killed in a blast at a Siberian pit in the latest disaster to strike Russia's accident-prone industry that has been chronically short of funds following the Soviet collapse. Thailand Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rejected as "nonsense" rumours that he would resign in the aftermath of a riot which led to the deaths of 85 detained Muslim protesters in the troubled south while separatists warned of reprisal attacks. Zimbabwe Zimbabwean police arrested a white lawmaker as he prepared to leave the country, a day after parliament recommended that he be given a one-year jail term for shoving a minister during a debate, his lawyer said. Algeria Amar Saifi, formerly a leading figure in an Algerian Islamic extremist group, has been extradited to Algeria from Libya, the interior ministry announced. Cambodia Traditional religious rituals for the coronation of Cambodia's new king Norodom Sihamoni began, as the capital launched three days of festivities marking his ascension to the throne.