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YANGON (Reuters) - Torrential rain lashed survivors of Cyclone Nargis on Friday as Myanmar's junta raised its toll sharply to more than 133,000 people dead or missing, putting the disaster on a par with a 1991 cyclone that killed 143,000 in neighboring Bangladesh.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Faced with some of America's highest energy costs, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin proposed a plan on Thursday to provide state residents with special debit cards good for $100 of fuel every month.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted on Thursday to overturn new, looser media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities, defying a White House threat to veto the measure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday he wants to see major changes in three areas before he leaves the Pentagon -- unmanned aircraft, protective gear for troops and medical care for the wounded.

BALLA, India (Reuters) - Five armed men burst into the small room and courtyard at dawn, just as 21-year-old, 22-week pregnant, Sunita was drying her face on a towel.

BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - China struggled to bury its dead and help tens of thousands of injured and homeless on Friday when a powerful aftershock brought new havoc four days after an earthquake thought to have killed more than 50,000.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said on Thursday they have agreed to the underpinnings of a housing rescue plan that will create a federal backstop for failing loans.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday said he was reviewing ties with Colombia after an Interpol report authenticated rebel computer documents that Bogota says prove the leftist leader has supported guerrillas.

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Three people, including a former congressman, were shot and killed as violence marred the close of campaigning before Friday's presidential election in the Dominican Republic, authorities said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's military build-up opposite Taiwan is counterproductive and fans pro-independence tendencies on the island, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Thursday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President George W. Bush heads for Saudi Arabia on Friday to renew his appeal to help tame record oil prices and try to shore up Arab support for containing Iran's growing regional clout.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate could vote as early as Thursday night on a measure aimed at overturning new, looser media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities, aides said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to scale back President George W. Bush's plan to aid Mexico in its increasingly deadly war on illegal drug cartels.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday that opens the door to a stronger U.N. presence in Somalia and possible deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives, in a surprise and largely symbolic move, defeated legislation on Thursday to fund the war in Iraq for another year.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The United States will respect Brazil's maritime claims, including offshore oil reserves, and will use a new naval fleet in Latin America mostly for peaceful purposes, the U.S. commander for the region said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement to address concerns raised by U.S. Democratic presidential candidates could kill the three-way pact, former Mexican President Carlos Salinas said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would get expanded education benefits, while unemployment benefits for jobless Americans would be lengthened under legislation passed on Thursday by the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives defied President George W. Bush by passing legislation on Thursday that would set the end of 2009 as the goal for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.