Mideast The Palestinian Authority has emerged with ringing support from the European Union, the United States and other world powers for an ambitious raft of reforms intended to create a viable Palestinian state once an elusive Middle East peace becomes reality. Iran Iran is refusing to cooperate in key areas with UN experts investigating possible atomic weapons work, including blocking a follow-up visit to a military facility where Washington charges Tehran is simulating testing of nuclear weapons, the UN's nuclear watchdog agency said. Vatican Pope John Paul II, who is recovering from the flu and throat surgery, was spending his seventh day in a hospital, when he would normally hold his traditional weekly audience at the Vatican. Iraq A French journalist missing in Iraq for almost two months has made a desperate appeal for her life as the leading candidate to head the country's next government met with Kurdish leaders to bolster his position. US The US Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for those convicted of crimes committed as minors, removing the United States from a short list of countries allowing the practice. Britain Syria must grab a rare chance to meet international demands, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview, as calls grew for Damascus to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and stop supporting terrorist groups. US The United States warned Japan that further delays in lifting a more than a year-old ban on US beef imports could "complicate" relations between the countries as new voices joined the chorus of those demanding sanctions against Tokyo. Japan Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who was reputed to be the world's richest man at the end of Japan's 'bubble economy,' will be indicted for allegedly lying in financial reports and insider trading when he headed the Seibu property, retail and railway empire, reports said. HongKong Hong Kong's embattled Beijing-appointed leader Tung Chee-hwa is set to resign within days citing poor health and stress, leading Hong Kong newspapers said Wednesday. US American adventurer Steve Fossett flew over the Middle East after overcoming a navigation equipment problem that threatened to derail his historic bid to make the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling.