Lebanon Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud were to hold a summit in Damascus to mark the start of a pullback of Syrian troops in its tiny neighbour. Mideast Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs met in the first moves to break the ice in contacts frozen last month by a suicide attack in Tel Aviv. Italy The Italian journalist wounded by US troops shortly after the end of her month-long kidnap ordeal fanned a growing diplomatic rift between Rome and Washington by suggesting the US soldiers deliberately tried to kill her. Bolivia President Carlos Mesa announced that he would resign as road blocks and demonstrations targeting multinational firms wracked Bolivia. Thailand Five people, including two police, were killed in a shootout with gunmen who disguised themselves as fully veiled Muslim women in Thailand's violence-wracked south, senior police said. Japan Sony said its board had chosen Howard Stringer, a US citizen and former television journalist, as the iconic Japanese company's first non-Japanese chairman and chief executive. France Less than three months before a referendum on whether to adopt the EU constitution, a survey showed 42 percent of French voters are preparing to vote 'no' and their number is rising. Iraq Iraq's new parliament will hold its first session in 10 days, more than a month after the country's historic vote, top officials in the Kurdish and Shiite blocs negotiating a governing coalition said. Britain Nearly 200 trained Al-Qaeda terrorists are on the loose in Britain, the former head of London's Metropolitan Police said, in an alarming twist to a heated debate over controversial new anti-terrorist legislation.