An explosion near a Philippine army base being used by US troops has wounded about 20 people, reports say.
The blast happened at a karaoke bar on Jolo, an island hit by attacks by Abu Sayyaf Islamic rebels. US troops are on Jolo for counter-terrorism exercises.

US military officials said that no US servicemen were among those hurt, and said planned exercises would continue.

A Japanese rocket carrying a satellite into orbit has launched successfully, the second Japanese launch in a month.
The H-2A rocket lifted off in southern Japan carrying a 4.6-ton satellite designed to control air traffic and track weather patterns.

Sixteen people are killed and 11 churches burned in Nigeria as part of the continuing violence over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

At least 23 people die in violence across Iraq, as the US leans on Iraqi officials to bury sectarian divisions.

European Union agriculture ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss ways to fight the spread of bird flu.
France is the latest European nation to report the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus in the past week, joining Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Greece.

Poultry farmers in Germany, France and the Netherlands have been ordered to keep flocks indoors as a precaution.

Rescue teams in Mexico are working to free a least 65 workers trapped underground after a blast in a coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila.
The authorities have not yet been able to make contact with the miners, and hopes of finding them alive are fading.

Sounds described by an official as "signs of life" have been detected by rescuers using high-tech equipment at the site of a Philippine school buried by last week's mudslide. Around 1,000 people are still missing.

The UK foreign secretary calls on Iraqi leaders to put aside sectarian interests and form a national unity government.