Dominican ruling party declares election win
Reuters - Saturday May 17, 12:59 PM
SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - The campaign of Dominican President Leonel Fernandez declared that he had won Friday's election in the first round, with enough votes to avoid a run-off.

Aussie aid worker's film taken to Cannes
AAP - Saturday May 17, 12:45 PM
Sean Penn has taken an Australian aid worker's tsunami film to the Cannes festival.

Dominican Republic president ahead in election count
Reuters - Saturday May 17, 12:25 PM
SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Dominican President Leonel Fernandez took an early lead in the vote count after an election on Friday, with possibly enough votes to win a third term outright and avoid a runoff, the first official results showed.

China urges quake rescuers not to give up hope
Reuters - Saturday May 17, 12:18 PM
DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao urged rescuers in the southwestern province of Sichuan to race time to save lives, days after the most destructive earthquake to hit modern China, state media said on Saturday.

American tourist joins pandas in 'surreal' earthquake ordeal
AFP - Saturday May 17, 12:14 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - An American tourist who survived China's deadly earthquake says he is not only lucky to be alive -- he had a "surreal" experience of sharing the moment with giant pandas.

Panama to deploy special force on Colombian border
Reuters - Saturday May 17, 12:09 PM
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama will create an armed border protection force to combat the flow of cocaine and weapons and to catch leftist guerrillas along its jungle border with Colombia, the government said on Friday.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader to begin showdown with Mugabe
AFP - Saturday May 17, 12:08 PM
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was to return home on Saturday bidding to deliver a knockout blow to weakened President Robert Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27.

Redknapp well prepared for final FA Cup hurdle
AFP - Saturday May 17, 11:50 AM
LONDON (AFP) - Portsmouth play Cardiff for the FA Cup on Saturday in their first major Wembley final for 69 years. For Harry Redknapp, their 61-year-old manager, the wait has been almost as long.

Russia, Canada advance to gold medal game at World Championships
AFP - Saturday May 17, 11:47 AM
QUEBEC CITY, Canada (AFP) - Canada and Russia won their World Championships semi-finals to set the stage for a gold medal game that will recall historic battles between the two great ice hockey nations.

US lawyers want 9/11 charges dropped
AAP - Saturday May 17, 11:43 AM
Charges against five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks should be thrown out.

US Olympian sentenced to 46 months jail
AAP - Saturday May 17, 11:42 AM
Former US Olympic sprinter Tim Montgomery's been sentenced to 46 months in prison for a cheque fraud and money laundering scheme.

EU, Latin America leaders stress trade, environment at summit
AFP - Saturday May 17, 11:34 AM
LIMA (AFP) - EU and Latin American leaders vowed to do more to further trade between their regions and tackle global warming and poverty as they wrapped up a summit late Friday in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Ten die in Sri Lanka suicide blast
AAP - Saturday May 17, 11:09 AM
A suicide bomber crashed his motorbike into a police bus in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, killing 10 people.