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BEICHUAN, China - A strong aftershock sparked landslides Friday near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake, while some survivors were pulled from rubble after being buried for four days.

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

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.

PARIS - Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said.

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

YANGON, Myanmar - The United Nations said Friday that severe restrictions by Myanmar's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors' suffering, two weeks after a killer cyclone left up to 2.5 million people destitute.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - An election runoff between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be held June 27, the electoral commission said in an announcement published Friday.

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.

YANGON (Reuters) - Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy delta on Friday as thousands of destitute victims took to roadsides to beg for help to supplement the meager trickle of aid flowing in.

MIANYANG, China (AFP) - 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.

TOKYO - A U.S. Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl was convicted of a lesser charge Friday during a court martial and sentenced to four years in prison in a case that inflamed public anger at the American military presence on Okinawa.

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.

BAGHDAD - An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, an embassy spokesman said Friday.

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.

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.

GENEVA - The international Red Cross says a lack of clean water will be the biggest killer in Myanmar in the coming days.

ANKARA (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II on Friday wrapped up a four-day state visit to Turkey that aimed to stress Britain's support for the mainly Muslim country's EU membership prospects.

LONDON (AFP) - London shares rallied on Friday as investors eyed a continent-wide battle for British Energy in the wake of solid gains on Wall Street overnight.

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq on Friday offered cash in exchange for weapons in the main northern city of Mosul, described by US commanders as Al-Qaeda's last urban bastion in the country, as a crackdown against the insurgents entered its third day.

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.

Are Muslim head scarves fascist symbols?

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia said Monday it has the means to secure its vital trade corridor with the Gulf of Aden in the event of conflict between Djibouti and Eritrea.