©Chinese earthquake FLASH GRAPHIC

Time running out for China quake survivors
13:07 GMT

Cries for help echoed from under the rubble of shattered communities Friday as China warned time was running out to save survivors of an earthquake that has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.

©Cyclone Nargis survivors in the Dagon township on the outskirts of Yangon

No breakthroughs in Myanmar aid crisis: EU envoy
09:29 GMT

The European Union's aid chief said Friday he had made no breakthroughs on a trip to Myanmar aimed at pushing the ruling generals to open up to foreign assistance, two weeks after the cyclone tragedy.

©Osama bin Laden says he will keep up the fight against Israel and its allies

Bin Laden slams West over Israel, vows to fight on
11:32 GMT

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden slammed Western leaders for taking part in Israel's 60th birthday celebrations and vowed that Muslims would fight and not give up "one inch of Palestine," in an audio message Friday.

©Zimbabwean Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai

Mugabe acknowledges election disaster as run-off date set
13:04 GMT

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe acknowledged Friday he had suffered an electoral disaster in losing a first round against arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai, as the date for a run-off was fixed for June 27.

©Members of a Russian doomsday cult at their compound in Nikolskoye

Russian doomsday cult emerge from cave: officials
11:36 GMT

Toxic fumes from rotting corpses drove the final members of a Russian doomsday cult from the cave where they had been waiting six months for the end of the world, officials said Friday.

©Nigerian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze in a northern suburb of Lagos

Nigeria pipeline burns for second day after deadly explosion
12:27 GMT

Nigerian firefighters battled Friday to put out flames pouring from a burst oil pipeline a day after a huge explosion that Red Cross officials said killed 100 people.

©George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert visit the ancient hilltop fortress of Masada

Bush set to talk oil as Saudis eye Mideast peace
12:00 GMT

US President George W. Bush arrived in Saudi Arabia from Israel on Friday for talks with the world's biggest crude exporter on record oil prices that have hit Western consumers hard.

©MDC activists who claim they were attacked by President Robert Mugabe's supporters

Mugabe blames opposition for Zimbabwe violence
12:36 GMT

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe turned the tables on the country's opposition on Friday, accusing them of being behind political violence since the country's March 29 polls.

©Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Interpol confirms authenticity of captured FARC data
06:16 GMT

Interpol confirmed Thursday the authenticity of a trove of computer documents seized from Colombia's FARC guerrillas which Bogota says prove close links between the rebels and Venezuela and Ecuador.

©The Tamil Tigers have carried out three major attacks in the past week

Nine dead, scores wounded in Sri Lanka suicide blast
12:02 GMT

At least nine people were killed and 95 others wounded in a Tamil Tiger suicide bombing near the official residence of Sri Lanka's president in the capital Colombo, officials said Friday.

©Indian police collect evidence at a blast site in Jaipur

Indian police release more sketches of blast suspects
10:56 GMT

Indian police on Friday distributed sketches of three more men suspected of involvement in serial blasts that ripped through the pink walled city of Jaipur earlier this week killing 63 people.

©Map of Georgia with details on the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Russia claims capture of Georgian spy
12:18 GMT

Russia on Friday claimed the capture of a Georgian spy allegedly operating in southern Russia to destabilise the region, as tensions mounted between Moscow and Georgia's pro-Western leadership.

©Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev have been asked to testify at the trial of General Wojciech Jaruzelski

Gorbachev blasts Jaruzelski trial as 'persecution'
12:13 GMT

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has refused to testify in the trial of Poland's last communist leader, blasting the court case as "baseless persecution" in an interview published Friday.