Oct 10 (AFP) - Top world news stories for Sunday at 0100 GMT:
Afghanistan-vote
KABUL: Afghanistan`s first ever national election was in crisis as opposition candidates demanded fresh polls, charging widespread fraud, after eager voters turned out in droves for a peaceful vote hoping for an end to decades of conflict.
Iraq
BAGHDAD: A key step toward peace in Iraq was taken when the militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr agreed to lay down their arms in the capital, as US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said more troops may be needed to ensure safe elections in January.
US-vote
WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry hit the campaign trail with renewed vigor, courting voters in battleground states after their hard-fought second debate left the race for the White House in a dead heat.
Australia-vote
SYDNEY: Prime Minister John Howard swept his conservative government to a historic fourth victory as Australia`s booming economy drowned out criticism of his staunch support for the US-led war in Iraq.
Mideast
GAZA CITY: Seven Palestinians, including a Hamas militant, were killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, taking the death toll from a huge Israeli offensive in the area to more than 100.
Iraq-hostages-Britain-scene
LIVERPOOL, England: Two minutes` silence was held in the home city of Kenneth Bigley as the British engineer`s family struggled to come to terms with his brutal murder by Islamic extremists in Iraq.
France-Derrida-obit
PARIS: Jacques Derrida, one of France`s best-known philosophers and the founder of the deconstructionist school, has died of cancer at the age of 74.