Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia has threatened to use heavy weapons against Georgian forces after two people were killed in clashes.

An Olympic diver was among the torch bearers carrying the Olympic flame across China Friday. The relay took the torch through an ancient city that is the largest city in central-western China. (July 4)

Seven bodies were pulled out of the Sava River and divers searched for others after a group of kayakers smashed into a dam being built in Slovenia.

A wave of battles across Sri Lanka's northern region has killed 32 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military says.

A 16-year-old boy has died after being stabbed in a London street, the 18th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year.

North Korea is accusing the US and its nuclear negotiating partners of being too slow to award fuel oil and political benefits promised in a disarmament deal.

Indonesian police say bombs seized in terrorist raids this week could have created explosions bigger than the Bali bombings.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea said Friday it would not push ahead with an international deal to scrap its nuclear programme until negotiating partners fulfil their side of the bargain.

Britain's top intelligence official is in a coma in a London hospital after collapsing at home, police say.

US President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, defying boycott calls from critics of China's record on human rights.

MINSK (AFP) - Dozens of people were injured in an explosion at a gala concert in Minsk attended by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus officials told Russian news agencies.

BOGOTA (AFP) - French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt left Bogota bound for France and a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy one day after her jungle rescue from six years in rebel captivity.

DUBAI, (AFP) - Strife-torn Zimbabwe will remain a full member of the International Cricket Council, officials said on Friday, after the deeply-divided world body worked out a last-minute compromise.

KABUL (AFP) - Bomb blasts and attacks killed 11 policemen and three civilians in separate incidents in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said Friday.