World News: General

By John Ruwitch
MIANZHU, China (Reuters) - China struggled to bury the dead and help tens of thousands of injured, homeless and hungry on Friday, four days after a massive earthquake which is expected to have killed more than 50,000.

By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will address the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding in a Web message expected to underscore a growing focus on the Jewish state, U.S.-based Internet monitors said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A member of an Afghan Taliban cell was convicted by a federal jury on Thursday on charges of narco-terrorism and narcotics distribution, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

(corrects quote in 4th paragraph to read more closely)
By Randall Mikkelsen

By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - World biodiversity has declined by almost one third in the past 35 years due mainly to habitat loss and the wildlife trade, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Friday

By John Ruwitch
MIANZHU, China (Reuters) - China struggled on Friday to bury the dead and offer relief to those left injured, homeless and without food and water by the earthquake that may have killed more than 50,000 people.

By Kristin Roberts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday he wants to see major changes in three areas before he leaves the Pentagon -- unmanned aircraft, protective gear for troops and medical care for the wounded.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An impending message from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was announced on Islamist Web sites and discusses the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel, U.S.-based terrorism monitors said on Thursday.

By Dominic Evans
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arab League mediators announced a deal on Thursday to end Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the civil war, after the U.S.-supported government backed down in its conflict with Hezbollah.

By Emma Graham-Harrison and Aly Song
YINGXIU, China (Reuters) - The death toll from China's earthquake could soar to more than 50,000, state media reported on Thursday, as rescuers struggled to help survivors and hope faded for thousands buried under rubble.

According to the United Nations up to 2.5 million people might have been affected by the cyclone in Myanmar and urgently needed aid.

Two missiles, suspected to have been fired by a U.S. drone, hit a house in the village of Damadola in the Bajaur tribal region on May 14.

The Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday (May 15) that terrorism is a common threat to India, Russia and China.

Those in the habit of calling in sick will need to improve their proficiency in the art of lying for bosses determined to check absenteeism in office are resorting to technology to crack down on employees pulling a sickie.

global market for cancer drugs will grow twice as fast as that for all other pharmaceuticals as the developing world spends more on health care, a new report says.

Forty-six hours after the earthquake hit China , rescue workers are still pulling out survivors from under heavy concrete debris.

The leader of the main party in Pakistan's fractured six-week-old coalition government, Asif Ali Zardari, in his first public comments on the split in the coalition,

The death toll from China's deadliest earthquake in decade's climbed to nearly 15,000 on May 14 night.

The U.S. Ambassador to China presented a check for 500,000 U.S. dollars to the International Federation of Red Cross in Beijing on Wednesday (May 14) to help in relief and recovery efforts.

Survivors of the earthquake in China complained on May 14 that they had no where to go, nothing to eat, and no one to help them.