Calm returns to the streets of Beirut after days of fighting as the Lebanese army takes over security control. via Reuters

"They will continue their mission"

Hundreds of rebels from war-ravaged Darfur clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year-old conflict.

It was the first foray into the seat of the Sudanese government by a rebel group once confined to the western region, which is deeply scarred by the struggle between the ethnic African rebels and the Arab-dominated central government.

The country's interior minister said government forces successfully 'chased' away the rebels by nightfall, about three hours after the first outbreak of violence, and killed a rebel leader and his aide. State television showed footage of the fighters in handcuffs and soldiers driving confiscated jeeps through empty streets, saluting colleagues standing at attention. Read more

Venezuela's proven crude oil reserves had swelled to 130 billion barrels as of late April, marking a rise of 30 billion from its prior estimate, energy and oil minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday.

Gunfire broke out in downtown Beirut Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to "a declaration of open war."

"Just in the past few minutes ... things have gotten a lot worse," CNN's Cal Perry reported from downtown Beirut. The sound of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades could be heard throughout his live reports.

Relief supplies from the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar Thursday, but U.S. military planes loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist regime five days after a devastating cyclone.

Iran's president has alarmed the nation's conservative clerics with remarks suggesting he believes a mystical Shiite religious leader backs his government.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who came to power in 2005 with the votes of Iran's religious poor, has in the past courted controversy for his public devotion to the return of the 12th Imam, a figure he regularly refers to in speeches.

Speaking at a news conference as the Olympic flame was being taken to the top of Mt. Everest, Chinese Technology Minister Wan Gang refused to guarantee China will lift the veil of state-run Internet censorship for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. According to Reuters, China will guarantee sites will not be blocked "as much as possible" over the Olympics, but that "unhealthy" sites would be blocked to protect China's youth.

The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the U.S. Charge D'Affaires in Yangon said today. "The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths," Shari Villarosa said. Villarosa heads the U.S. embassy in the capital Rangoon.