Iraq US war planes struck suspected rebel targets in Iraq's flashpoint cities of Fallujah and Ramadi over 24 hours, the military said, as the threat of all-out action loomed. France: Some 20 pro-Palestinians continued a vigil outside a hospital here after doctors tending Yasser Arafat said his condition had not changed but refused to respond to unconfirmed reports that the 75-year-old leader was brain dead and on life support. US The United States declined to join a row over the potential burial of ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, adding that his death would not change US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. NKorea US President George W. Bush and his South Korean counterpart Roh Moo-Hyun agreed to step up efforts to resume multilateral talks aimed to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, officials said. US The discovery of life in the American jobs market may keep the Federal Reserve raising interest rates until the end of 2004, analysts said. ICoast Ivory Coast government forces resumed air strikes on former rebels while political violence targeting opposition parties in Abidjan raised fears of new civil strife. Afghanistan Islamic militants holding three United Nations workers hostage in Afghanistan have set a new, fifth deadline for their execution, a spokesman for the group said. Netherlands The first results of an investigation into the murder of controversial Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, whose suspected assailant has ties to radical Islamists, point to a "terrorist conspiracy," prosecutors said. USA World oil prices halted a 10-day, 11.5-percent slide, clawing higher on terrorism fears and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's critical condition, analysts said.