Vatican Pope John Paul II was said to be in a stable condition after being rushed to hospital overnight fighting for breath, as millions of Catholics around the world prayed for their 84-year-old leader amid Vatican assurances that they had no cause for alarm. Iraq Influential Sunni clerics branded Iraq's election illegitimate, dampening hopes for reconciliation among the country's sects, as the electoral commision admitted to flaws in the landmark vote. Mideast The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were set for their first summit in more than four years after accepting an invitation from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for talks on the shores of the Red Sea next week. Mideast Israel was set to freeze its pursuit of wanted militants as part of efforts to bolster new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is struggling to prevent a tentative truce from unravelling. US President George W. Bush, two weeks into his second term and buoyed by elections in Iraq, will use his State of the Union speech to seek global support for that war-torn country and lay out a tightly budgeted domestic agenda. Nepal Nepal's King Gyanendra swore in a new cabinet dominated by royalists after firing the government and seizing power in a move that sparked international condemnation. India India blamed regional turmoil for Prime Minister Manomohan Singh's decision to pull out of a summit of seven South Asian nations next week. Mozambique Mozambique's newly elected president Armando Guebuza took over the reins from long-serving leader Joaquim Chissano with a pledge to step up the fight against poverty, bureaucracy and corruption. South Africa Zimbabwe deported for a second time a delegation of South Africa's largest labour federation after it arrived in Harare for another attempted fact-finding mission ahead of the southern African country's March parliamentary polls. Britain Robert Kilroy-Silk, an EU lawmaker known best for his tan and telegenic personality, promised "straight talk" and tough action on immigration and the European Union as he launched a new political party. Asia A couple ordered to take a DNA test to prove their claim to a baby that survived December's tsunami disaster were arrested after trying to snatch the child from hospital, police said.