Saudi Gunmen suspected of links to Al-Qaeda stormed the US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah, triggering a bloody three-hour siege and a shootout that left five staff and four attackers dead. The Saudi branch of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror group used an Islamist web site to claim Monday's unprecedented attack on the US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah, stating that some assailants had managed to flee after the operation. Ukraine Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma remained at loggerheads with the opposition after six-hour talks with European mediators over legislative changes ahead of a new presidential runoff vote ended in failure. Iraq The presidents of Iraq and the United States pledged there would be no delay to landmark elections on January 30 despite a flare-up of violence that left about 100 dead in three days. US-NKorea A US special envoy left for China, South Korea and Japan in a bid to jump start North Korean nuclear talks, the State Department said, as the UN nuclear watchdog chief warned Pyongyang could develop up to six atomic bombs. EU The 12 euro nations expressed concern at sharp volatility in currency rates, and in a thinly veiled call to the United States urged "all major countries" to put appropriate policies in place. Argentina The United States resisted calls for talks on the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases at a UN conference on climate change. US The US Congress was poised to pass a bill to fix faulty US spy agencies, after a deal allayed conservative fears that the Pentagon would lose power, a key legislator said. Spain Multiple bombs exploded across Spain injuring five people in attacks claimed by the Basque separatist group ETA, days after another series of blasts in Madrid, in a reminder that the militant group is still a thorn in the side of authorities. Cuba Cuba released journalist Jorge Olivera, the seventh dissident freed since November 29 from a group of 75 opponents jailed last year in a Communist government crackdown. Mideast PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas held talks with the leaders of three Damascus-based Palestinian militant groups as well as Syria's president as he made the first official Palestinian visit to the country since 1996.