US President George W. Bush told Democratic rival John Kerry that he was "very gracious" after the senator conceded defeat in their hard-fought White House race, Bush's spokesman said. US Democrat John Kerry ended the journey of a lifetime, conceding defeat to President George W. Bush after concluding he could no longer win the bitterly divisive election. Iraq Six more foreigners were kidnapped and a US soldier died in a roadside bomb in another day of mayhem, as Iraqis tracked the news that George W. Bush has won another term as US president. Afghanistan US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai was proclaimed winner of Afghanistan's first presidential election, almost a month after eight million Afghans defied threats of violence to have their first say in their country's leadership UAE The emir of Abu Dhabi was elected as president of the United Arab Emirates, succeeding his father, who died a day earlier, the official WAM news agency reported. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip took another step forward as MPs approved a 900-million-dollar bill to compensate uprooted settlers. EU The European Union's presidency voiced hopes for a rapid resolution to an unprecedented institutional row blocking the bloc's new executive from taking office, as EU leaders prepared for a Brussels summit. France A 70-year-old former bus driver and convicted sex-attacker went on trial in France as one of the country's most controversial multiple murder mysteries finally came to court more than a quarter of a century after the events.