Lebanon Syria pledged to pull back its troops in Lebanon towards the eastern Bekaa Valley by the end of March but stopped short of announcing the rapid withdrawal demanded by the international community. Italy Central Rome came to a standstill as Italy bade a solemn farewell with a state funeral for the Italian secret service agent slain by US gunfire as he rescued a hostage in Iraq. Vatican Pope John Paul II's improving health means he should be out of hospital in less than two weeks, in time for Easter week celebrations, which begin on March 20, the Vatican said. Dominican A prison fire in eastern Dominican Republic killed at least 118 inmates, the state prosecutor general said. Iraq At least 25 people, mostly Iraqi soldiers, were killed in a string of attacks against the country's security forces in Balad and Baquba north of Baghdad, police said. Mideast Israeli and Palestinian ministers met in the latest in a series of top-level talks since last month's landmark peace summit but clashes in the West Bank clouded an informal ceasefire. Bolivia Bolivian President Carlos Mesa offered his resignation to Congress in exasperation at a series of social conflicts that have hit the South American nation. US Boeing Co. said it had forced out chief executive Harry Stonecipher over an affair with a colleague, leaving the aerospace giant scrambling to find a new boss for the second time in two years. Taiwan An unemployed loner who later committed suicide was believed to be the gunman responsible for the mysterious eve-of-election shooting of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last year, police said.