World News

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine, Osama bin Laden said in a new audio statement Friday.

BEIJING - The Sichuan government says the official death toll from this week's powerful earthquake in the Chinese province has risen to 21,000 people.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen ambushed an Iranian Embassy convoy in Baghdad, wounding three Iranians, including two diplomats, and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday.

JERUSALEM - President Bush put the finishing touch on his celebrate-and-be-celebrated Israel stay, leaving the Holy Land Friday with no movement on Mideast peace but hoping to fare better in Saudi Arabia at obtaining help for soaring gas prices at home.

DOHA, Qatar - More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

MOSCOW - Russia's security service reportedly said Friday that it detained a man accused of spying for Georgia in the restive North Caucasus, adding to escalating tension between the former Soviet republics.

MOSCOW - The nine remaining members of a Russian doomsday cult holed up underground for months awaiting the end of the world abandoned it Friday after authorities removed two rotting corpses from their cave.

LONDON (AFP) - Dwain Chambers was taking a cocktail of seven banned drugs when he was caught doping in 2003, the disgraced British sprinter has revealed as part of his bid to be allowed to run in the Olympics.

LONDON (AFP) - British Airways said Friday that its annual net profit more than doubled as it cut costs to help offset record high fuel prices while the group offered its first dividend in seven years.

LONDON (AFP) - Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has dropped a potential bombshell on the club by telling Spanish television he could consider his future following the Champions League final on May 21.

CARACAS, Venezuela - The United States and Colombia have long been wary of Venezuela's peacetime military buildup, suspecting the weapons could end up in the hands of drug-trafficking Colombian rebels.

CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - For thoroughbred racehorses in Puerto Rico, success can be a matter of life and death. Many losers don't make it off the racetrack grounds alive.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Interpol said Thursday that computer files suggesting Venezuela was arming and financing Colombian guerrillas came from a rebel camp and were not tampered with, discrediting Venezuela's assertions that Colombia faked them.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - An international banker whose nomination for Haiti's No. 2 political post was rejected by the lower house of Parliament said Thursday he was hamstrung by corrupt legislators.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Dominican President Leonel Fernandez has led the nation out of economic crisis and turned the capital into a huge construction zone, gains that are expected to win him a third term in Friday's elections.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean security chiefs have urged church leaders to help stop rising violence ahead of a delayed run-off election in which the opposition hopes to oust President Robert Mugabe.

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden says in a new message that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.

LAGOS (AFP) - An oil pipeline explosion killed about 100 people on Thursday near a primary school in a suburb north of Lagos, the Red Cross said.

NAIROBI (AFP) - London-based Tullow Oil Plc on Friday announced the discovery of oil reserves in western Uganda, boosting hopes for the energy-starved east African nation.

UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in conflict-wracked Somalia for the first time in years and setting conditions for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.

GAUHATI, India - Police say 12 people have been killed in fighting between rival rebel factions in India's remote northeast.

KHAR, Pakistan - Suspected Islamic militants have killed a Pakistani soldier in revenge for an alleged U.S. missile strike near the Afghan border, an official said Friday.

BEIJING - The Sichuan government says the official death toll from this week's powerful earthquake in the Chinese province has risen to 21,000 people.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea expects the long-stalled international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs to resume next month, the country's chief negotiator said Friday.

BEICHUAN, China - A strong aftershock sparked landslides near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake Friday, burying vehicles and again cutting off ravaged areas of central China.

TORONTO (Reuters) - The so-called "morning after" pill Plan B has received full over-the-counter status in Canada, drug maker Paladin Labs Inc said on Thursday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A mother whose son's death at a Canadian airport ignited debate over the safety of Taser stun guns wept on Thursday as she called for a moratorium on their use.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada is concerned a plan to tighten rules for U.S.-Canadian lumber trade, included in a giant U.S. bill which looks likely to become law, will pose new problems for its timber industry, the Canadian embassy in Washington said on Thursday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - The Canadian Auto Workers union and General Motors Corp have reached a tentative agreement on terms for a new contract after bargaining through the night, a spokeswoman for the union said on Thursday.

QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - Canada may be hosting the ice hockey world championships but arch-rivals Russia have made themselves at home in Quebec City.

MELBOURNE (AFP) - Protesting pensioners brought traffic to a stand still in Australia's second largest city on Friday when some stripped to demand more money from the government.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia is considering taking Iran's president to the International Court of Justice for inciting violence against Israel, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Wednesday.

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's new government won praise from the United Nations and human rights groups Wednesday for offering refugees permanent sanctuary rather than temporary visas.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Shares in mining giant BHP Billiton hit an all time high on the Australian stock exchange Wednesday on talk that a Chinese entity was seeking a stake in the group.

DARWIN, Australia - An Australian man has been fined after buckling in a case of beer with a seat belt but leaving a 5-year-old child to sit on the car's floor, police said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines - At least eight bank employees and a security guard were lined up and shot dead in the head Friday in a bloody Philippine bank robbery, police said. Another employee was in critical condition at a hospital.

BALLA, India (Reuters) - Five armed men burst into the small room and courtyard at dawn, just as 21-year-old, 22-week pregnant, Sunita was drying her face on a towel.

BEICHUAN, China - A strong aftershock sparked landslides near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake Friday, burying vehicles and again cutting off ravaged areas of central China.

BEIJING - First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely.

CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - For thoroughbred racehorses in Puerto Rico, success can be a matter of life and death. Many losers don't make it off the racetrack grounds alive.