Ukraine Ukraine's parliament met anew to try and break an impasse between outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and the opposition that threatens to keep a political crisis simmering up until a new presidential vote in December. Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin went "too far" in a warning to the West not to adopt a colonial attitude toward Ukraine's election wrangle, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. Iraq Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was visiting British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, just days after a battle group returned from a controversial deployment near Baghdad. EU The European Union reiterated that it was not yet ready to end a 15-year-old arms embargo with China, but voiced hopes of lifting the ban next year, as it held summit talks with China's prime minister. Yemen Yemen's public prosecutor asked for the death sentence for two Islamist militants convicted over the October 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole which claimed the lives of 17 US sailors. Mideast Palestinian leaders arrived in Beirut on the first such first visit to Lebanon in more than two decades, following a similar fence-mending trip to powerful neighbor Syria. Philippines US Marines began helping relief operations in the Philippines following storms that have left more than 1,500 people dead as fears grew of a health crisis among survivors. Pakistan Pakistan test-fired a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead but insisted it was not sending a signal to India amid continuing peace moves with its regional rival. India Muslim rebels in Indian Kashmir injured 30 people Wednesday when they hurled a grenade in a busy marketplace as President Abdul Kalam visited the region to address frontline troops. US Members of a special operations task force in Iraq punched a prisoner in the face to the point he needed medical attention and then threatened Defense Intelligence Agency interrogators after they attempted to document the abuse, a newly released document shows.