Pakistan-India-Afghanistan An earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter scale caused massive devastation across a swathe of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, leaving more than 1,800 dead with fears for many more. CentrAm Mudslides and floods sparked by Tropical Storm Stan have killed 508 people in Guatemala alone, a Guatemalan official said, bringing to 610 the number killed when the storm lashed Central America and Mexico with heavy, unrelenting rains. Britain British anti-terrorist police arrested 10 people in raids carried out at three locations in England, including one in the London suburbs, London's Metropolitan Police said. Iraq US forces said they had wrapped up one of four western Iraqi offensives aimed at pinning down Al-Qaeda linked insurgents a week before the population votes in a bitterly divisive constitutional referendum. Indonesia The death toll among victims of Bali's suicide bombings has risen to 20, an Indonesian official announced as police said one of the suspected masterminds was in the resort island just before the blasts. Mideast Israel's foreign minister expressed hope a summit next week between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas would help resurrect the currently moribund roadmap peace plan. China Nearly 200 members of the central committee of China's Communist Party opened a four-day meeting in Beijing which is arguably the most important event on the nation's political calendar. US-Guantanamo A lawyer linked to White House debates on narrowing the definition of torture withdrew his bid to become the second-ranking official at the US Justice Department, in a new setback for President George W. Bush. Germany German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder faced intense pressure to release his seven-year hold on the seat of power and make way for conservative leader Angela Merkel ahead of weekend showdown talks. France A Corsican separatist group threatened the potential buyers of the state-owned ferry company at the centre of a violent anti-privatisation protest, warning them in a letter that the purchase would jeopardize their personal security.