US President George W. Bush said the United States was making big gains in its global war on terror even though more people are being killed across the world by terrorist attacks. US-Iraq President George W. Bush said US-led forces were making "really good progress" in Iraq but acknowledged they still facing a stubborn insurgency run by "hard-nosed killers." Kyrgyzstan A candidate in Kyrgyzstan's upcoming presidential election, Bayaman Erkinbayev, has been injured in an assassination attempt, he told lawmakers in Bishkek's parliament. Sudan-Darfur The African Union decided to more than double the strength of its peace monitoring mission in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur within five months, officials said. Iraq Iraqi lawmakers approved Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's cabinet after weeks of damaging political deadlock, to give the country its first democratically elected government in half a century. Mideast-Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin, on an historic visit to the Middle East, sought to ease Israeli fears over Moscow's plans to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and its support for Iranian nuclear activities. India-Japan Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was in India to boost ties with the nation as it moves closer to China, and win support from a fellow candidate for a permanent UN Security Council seat. Iraq-Britain With a general election just a week away and his integrity on the line, British Prime Minister Tony Blair bowed to pressure and made public the full text of the secret advice he got on the legality of the Iraq war.