Iraq Iraq's interim government declared martial law on Sunday after insurgents killed 21 Iraqi policemen and set off blasts in Baghdad in a fresh show of force before a planned U.S. offensive on Falluja and Ramadi. US warplanes and artillery destroyed suspected insurgent bunkers and weapons hideouts in rebel-held Fallujah, as 12,000 US and Iraqi troops geared up for an imminent assault on the city. Mideast Palestinians were to hold a series of high-level political and security meetings in a bid to prevent an outbreak of violence and ensure a smooth transfer of power in the event of the death of Yasser Arafat. Ivory Coast French forces wiped out Ivory Coast's military aircraft in retaliation for the killing of nine of its soldiers stationed in the west African country, and sent in reinforcements as anti-French feeling reached boiling point in the west African former French colony. Iran Iranian and European Union officials have reached a "preliminary agreement" on easing alarm over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme following crucial negotiations in Paris, a top Iranian official said. Afghanistan Militants claiming to hold three kidnapped UN workers hostage said they would open talks with Afghan government negotiators, raising hopes that a peaceful solution to the crisis could be found. Thailand Two more Buddhists have been shot dead in Thailand's mainly Muslim troubled south before a visit by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the town where scores of Muslims died after troops and police broke up a protest a fortnight ago. Macedonia Macedonia's three-year peace process faced one of its biggest hurdles as voters went to the polls in a referendum called by opponents of EU-backed laws designed to empower the ethnic Albanian minority. Japan Japan's armed forces must contribute to global peace to secure safety at home, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said amid signs his government will extend an unpopular military deployment in Iraq. Britain Investigators combed the tangled wreckage of an express train in the south of England, a day after it slammed into a car at a level crossing, killing at least six people.