Vatican The Vatican named Friday as the date of Pope John Paul II's funeral but put off a decision on when they would start choosing his successor, as thousands of mourners gathered in the sun in Saint Peter's Square to pay their last respects. Vatican The world looked ahead to a new pope even as eulogies flowed in for Pope John Paul II, with huge swathes of the Roman Catholic Church hoping for a loosening of strict doctrine on condoms, or perhaps a spiritual leader from Africa. SAfrica South African president and peacebroker Thabo Mbeki was in a second day of talks with Ivory Coast leaders to try to end a civil war simmering since 2002 amid hopes his mediation would finally end the crisis. Iraq A bomb exploded near Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, two days after a brazen attack on the US-run facility, as Iraqi politicians held more talks to try to agree on the shape of the new government. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was preparing for showdown talks with settlers over his plans to uproot them from the Gaza Strip as his top lieutenants laid the groundwork for next week's summit with US President George W. Bush. Austria Iran still hopes to strike a deal with the European Union on its peaceful use of nuclear energy and assuage fears that it is trying to develop atomic weapons, President Mohammad Khatami said here. Russia Kyrgyzstan's ousted president Askar Akayev formally resigned from his post, ending the political uncertainty that followed the sudden toppling of his longtime regime in the key Central Asian nation. Saudi Seven suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed in a marathon gunbattle with Saudi security forces which has raged for one-and-a-half days in the north of the kingdom, the interior ministry said. Austria Austrian far-right firebrand Joerg Haider announced his return to national politics to lead a new party formed here as the Freedom Party (FPOe), a member of the ruling coalition, split due to severe infighting. Afghanistan Afghanistan called on foreign donors to hand over a larger slice of development funds to the government, which controls less than a quarter of the aid flowing in to the war-torn country. Sudan Sudan was on a collision course with the United Nations after refusing to surrender suspected Darfur war criminals to the International Criminal Court for trial as demanded by the Security Council. Thailand Authorities investigating three bombings that killed two people and injured almost 80 people in Thailand's restive south said they had an image of a bombing suspect taken from a security camera.