Some 600,000 Muslims crowded into the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city of Mecca for prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan.

A scientist who sparked a security alert at Miami airport for storing a metal bacteria canister in his luggage has a previous conviction for illegally transporting samples of bubonic plague, according to police.

Two Mexican politicians and at least three other died when their small plane crashed in southern Mexico, according to police.

A UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after take-off outside Dubai, killing two crew members aboard, according to officials.

Ten people were killed amid further rioting in Mozambique, as police fired rubber bullets and teargas at demonstrators.

The creator of Peter Pan has been cleared of any link to the mysterious deaths of two babies in the 1930s after Los Angeles police discovered their mummified remains in a locked trunk belonging to a JM Barrie.

Israel is bracing itself for more attacks after Hamas warned preparations for fresh violence had reached "highest levels".

Buildings collapsed, essential services were cut and there were outbreaks of looting after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Christchurch.

Violence in Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better, Britain's most senior military commander in the country has predicted.

AFP - A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked New Zealand's second largest city Christchurch just before dawn Saturday, causing widespread damage and panic among residents, but no serious injuries.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked New Zealand's second largest city Christchurch, causing widespread damage including the collapse of some buildings and power outages according to witnesses.

AP - A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck much of New Zealand's South Island early Saturday. No tsunami alert was issued and there were no reports of serious injuries, but looters broke into some damaged shops in Christchurch, police said.

AFP - Police on Friday questioned the three Pakistani cricketers embroiled in fixing claims, as the sport's governing body insisted the case was not the tip of a corruption iceberg in the game.

McClatchy Newspapers - JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Mohammed Tariq was looking after his uncle's music shop one recent afternoon when two bearded men with turbans pulled up on a motorcycle to deliver an ominous warning.

AP - A UPS cargo plane with two crew members on board crashed shortly after takeoff Friday outside Dubai, officials said.

AP - Pro-government crowds swarmed outside the battered home of a key Iranian opposition leader Friday after militiamen attacked with firebombs and beat a bodyguard unconscious in a brazen message of intimidation and pinpoint pressure on dissent.

AFP - China beat South Africa 4-1 to get off the mark at the third attempt, England drew with South Korea, and Argentina dished out a 4-0 rout to Spain at the women's field hockey World Cup on Friday.

A senior commander in the Pakistan Taliban last night announced it was planning terror strikes against targets in the US and Europe similar to the Times Square bomb plot.

AP - Mozambique's economy has lost more than $3 million because of deadly riots over the rising prices of food and other goods, the government said Friday, as state media reported new protests in two other towns.

The European Union's trade chief has been accused of anti-Semitism referring to the power of the "Jewish lobby" in US policy and the difficulty of having "rational" discussions with Jews on the Middle East.

A British journalist's reputation has been restored after he won an Austrian High Court libel over a claim, distributed internationally by Associated Press (AP), that he made up interviews in his book.

Time.com - After a notable absence, the Secretary of State has been a very visible presence at the current negotiations. Will it pay off?

Time.com - Thailand's opposition movement expressed fears Friday over the appointment of General Prayuth Chan-ocha as the new commander of the Royal Thai Army

AP - Fidel Castro dusted off his full military uniform for the first time since stepping down as president four years ago, a symbolic act in a communist country where little signals often carry enormous significance.

Fidel Castro made his first speech before Cubans since falling ill in 2006.

AP - A suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban killed at least 43 Shiite Muslims at a procession in southwest Pakistan on Friday. The assault sharply drove up the toll of sectarian assaults in a country battered by massive flooding.

A scientist who had stored a metal canister in his luggage was detained at Miami airport during a security scare that shut down America's biggest international gateway.

Reuters - Chinese officials have ordered state companies to meet investment bankers to explore ways to block BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

AP - North Korea is preparing its largest political meeting in 30 years, and leader Kim Jong Il is expected to appoint a son to a key Workers Party position in what would be the strongest sign yet of a succession movement in the secretive communist country.

AP - Whether or not she emerges as winner following recent elections, Australia's first woman prime minister will have led the nation's oldest political party to one of the lowest points in its 119-year history.