Iraq Nine people were killed in two dawn raids by US planes on suspected rebel targets in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, according to a local hospital. Sweden The 2004 Nobel Prize season was to open with the announcement of the prize for Medicine, kicking off the annual series of coveted awards culminating in the prestigious honours for Literature and for Peace. US US President George W. Bush's campaign was forced further on the defensive by a report that the White House knew before invading Iraq that key intelligence on the country's alleged nuclear weapons program was questionable. US Senior finance officials hailed a robust global economic recovery, albeit one threatened by surging oil prices, but made little headway pushing China toward currency reform and took no firm steps to ease the debt of the world's poorest nations. Indonesia Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was poised to declare victory in Indonesia's first ever direct presidential elections as the final votes were tallied to confirm his landslide win. India Six people were killed and nine injured in a fresh burst of violence in India's troubled northeast, taking the death toll in three days of rebel attacks to 69 with 210 injured, police said. Mideast Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli tanks fire in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian security and hospital sources said. Iran Iran's hardline parliament dealt a fresh blow to the already isolated reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami by voting unanimously to impeach his transport minister. US A tremor shook Mount St. Helens for 25 minutes, prompting scientists to warn of an imminent eruption two days after the volcano came back to life. Thailand An eight-year-old girl died of bird flu in northern Thailand, becoming the country's 11th confirmed victim of the lethal virus this year, a health ministry official said. France Anti-terrorist police arrested the political leader of Spain's armed Basque separatist group ETA in raids in France and Spain that resulted in arms caches and other suspected members being seized, officials said. Vatican Pope John Paul II beatified the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, Charles I, who is remembered in Austria for authorising the use of mustard gas during World War I.