Afghanistan Enthusiastic Afghans defied threats of violence to turn out in large numbers for their first chance at directly choosing the leader of their war-shattered land, hoping for an end to decades of conflict. US US President George W. Bush accused Senator John Kerry of being dangerously fickle on Iraq, as the Democrat countered in their second debate that Bush had become a "weapon of mass deception" on the war. Bahrain-US-Iraq The United States may send more troops to Iraq to protect elections in January against insurgent violence if US commanders decide they are needed, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. Australia Australians went to the polls in national elections that will decide if their country remains in Iraq as staunch allies of the United States or pulls out by Christmas to switch its international focus to engagement with Asia. Mideast-Israel-Egypt Egyptian investigators into car bombings at resorts on Egypt's Sinai peninsula which killed 32 people said they had identified a number of suspects, as rescuers continued to sift through the rubble. Iraq-Britain Britain fell into mourning for its first hostage killed in Iraq after the family of Kenneth Bigley confirmed the 62-year-old had been executed after three weeks in the hands of extremists. Iraq-Britain The Foreign Office refused to confirm press reports that the British hostage murdered in Iraq, Kenneth Bigley, escaped briefly before being recaptured, a spokesman told AFP. Nigeria Nigerian secret police arrested the country's top trade union leader, two days ahead of a threatened nationwide general strike against rising fuel prices, he told AFP in a brief call from custody. Japan-weather-typhoon Japan The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade was bearing down on Tokyo and neighbouring regions, leaving one man missing and sparking transport chaos amid downpours and strong winds. Cambodia Cambodia's national assembly president left for China to beg King Norodom Sihanouk to change his mind about abdicating, but left open the option of a new monarch being appointed.