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BEIJING (Reuters) - Two human rights groups expressed concern on Sunday over the fate of Huang Qi, a Chinese activist who friends fear was detained for offering support to families of children who died in the Sichuan earthquake.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Western powers are warning Iran of more sanctions if it rejects an incentives offer and presses on with sensitive nuclear work, but the Islamic Republic is showing no sign of backing down.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese leaders on Sunday eulogized former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, regarded as a revolutionary, a force behind economic liberalization and helping to bring the communist-run country out of isolation.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean car, construction and other unionized workers threaten to halt work this week in anger at the policies of the president, on top of a truckers' strike that has slowed transport in the export-dependent country.

LONDON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush arrived in Britain on Sunday for what could be his last official visit as president, urging his close ally not to withdraw forces from Iraq unless conditions on the ground allowed.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Saturday welcomed a call by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for FARC rebels to free their hostages as a step towards peace negotiations to end Latin America's oldest insurgency.

KURIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - Rescue workers searched on Sunday for 11 people still missing after a powerful earthquake rocked rural areas of northern Japan, killing at least nine and injuring more than 200.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican John McCain enlisted the high-profile help of Carly Fiorina, once the most powerful businesswoman in the United States, on Saturday to try to get women behind his campaign for the White House.

ROSARIO, Argentina (Reuters) - A bronze statue of Ernesto "Che" Guevara was unveiled on Saturday in the Argentine city where he was born exactly 80 years ago, the first such monument to the revolutionary in his homeland.

SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, Italy (Reuters) - The Catholic Church has a vital role to play in shaping social policies but does not seek to usurp secular authorities, Pope Benedict said on Saturday.

AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq has sent army and police units to the southern city of Amara for a new crackdown on Shi'ite militias, local officials said on Saturday.

BISHKEK (Reuters) - More than 20,000 mourners paid last respects to Kyrgyz writer and statesman Chingiz Aitmatov on Saturday as the country buried the intellectual who helped bring in Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan and foreign troops were hunting on Saturday hundreds of prisoners, including militants, who escaped the main prison in southern Kandahar city after a raid by Taliban insurgents, the government said.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali police broke up a protest by Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu on Saturday and detained 182 people for organizing anti-China demonstrations.

GOZ-BEIDA, Chad (Reuters) - Rebels on the offensive in east Chad on Saturday attacked a town ringed by refugee camps but stayed away from European Union troops protecting thousands of civilians, witnesses and rebel spokesmen said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The outcome of negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire between Hamas Islamists and Israel will be known "in the near term", an Israeli official involved in the talks said on Saturday.

KURIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake rocked rural northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least five people, injuring more than 200 and sparking landslides that sliced mountains, destroyed roads and left residents cut off.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan told China on Saturday it remained concerned about its ballooning defense expenditure, an official said, as the two countries sought to build military and other ties following a historic visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao last month.

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe vowed on Saturday that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never rule Zimbabwe and that he was prepared to fight to keep them from taking power.

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Saturday he expected to reach a long-term security pact with Iraq despite Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki saying talks were deadlocked because of sovereignty concerns.