France A French presidential spokesman said ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would be flown to Paris "imminently" for hospital treatment. Iraq Islamist militants in Iraq took a Polish woman hostage and claimed the grisly killing of 11 Iraqi soldiers, as more deadly violence on took hold across the 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. France A study to be published on Friday by the British medical weekly The Lancet said around 100 000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. 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. Thailand A bomb killed one person and injured more than 20 in mainly Muslim southern Thailand as rage grew over the deaths of 85 protesters detained by the army. Pakistan Several people were injured in a "big" explosion at the Marriott hotel in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, a hotel employee told AFP. US President George W. Bush and his rival John Kerry blasted each other again over Iraq as they scoured midwestern swing states for late votes that could turn their photo-finish White House race. EU Incoming EU chief Jose Manuel Barroso indicated he would bow to pressure to reshuffle his team as Italy's support for a conservative with outspoken views on gays and women as the EU's top justice official looked increasingly untenable. 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. 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. 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.