MEXICO: Rescuers say they're closer to finding trapped coal miners
SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (AP): RESCUERS SCRATCHING away at walls of debris for more than three days were just several hours away from reaching the spot where two of the 65 trapped workers are believed to be located...

NIGERIA: 66 slaughtered in religious violence
ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters): REVENGE ATTACKS against Muslims killed at least 20 people in the south-eastern Nigerian city of Onitsha yesterday after days of anti-Christian violence killed dozens in the mainly Muslim north.

IRAQ: Shrine bombing fuels Shi'ite protests
SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters): A DAWN bomb attack wrecked a major Shi'ite Muslim shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra yesterday, sparking protests, some of them violent, and forcing an urgent government appeal to avoid sectarian reprisals.