Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday he will not resign after acknowledging that his campaign office had unknowingly received illegal donations from a foreign supporter - days after his foreign minister stepped down for a similar reason.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi entered the oil port of Ras Lanuf in tanks and boats overnight as they intensified their counter-attack into the insurgent heartland

A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on Friday, unleashing a monster 10-metre high tsunami that sent ships crashing into the shore and carried cars through the streets of coastal towns.

ASEAN member countries have agreed to boost cooperation with the UN and to intensify efforts to persuade nuclear powers to sign a protocol to ASEAN's nuclear weapon-free zone treaty.

The death toll from an earthquake in southwest China on March 10 hit more than 25, with over 25 others injured, according to state-run media.

A bomb planted under an oil pipeline exploded in northern Iraq preventing the flow of thousands of barrels of oil, an Oil Ministry spokesman on March 10.

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted off the east coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 5:24 a.m. Beijing Time on Thursday, according to the China Earthquake Network Centre.

Casualties were reported after an earthquake jolted Yingjiang County in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Thursday noon, local authorities said.

A Libyan insurgent said rebels had retaken the heart of the closest city to the capital from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on March 9 evening in some of the fiercest fighting in almost three weeks of clashes.

Egypt's reformist Mohamed ElBaradei on March 9 announced his plan to run for president in an election expected to be held this year.