Iran began loading fuel into the reactor core of its Russian-built nuclear power plant on Tuesday, a move which brings the facility closer to generating electricity after decades of delay.

In a report from the plant in the southern city of Bushehr, the Arabic-language Al-Alam channel of public television said engineers "started loading the core of the Bushehr power plant with the nuclear fuel today".

A bomb attack killed six Pakistani soldiers in one of the most lawless parts of the country's northwestern tribal belt on Friday, security officials said, the third deadly attack this week.

The spate of killings of paramilitary troops in the tribal belt follows a relative lull in violence as the military and government focused on relief efforts for 20 million people hit by catastrophic floods.

An outbreak of severe diarrhea has killed at least 135 people in rural central Haiti and sickened hundreds more who overwhelmed a crowded hospital Thursday seeking treatment. Health workers suspected the disease is cholera, but were awaiting tests.

Hundreds of patients lay on blankets in a parking lot outside St. Nicholas hospital in the port city of St. Marc with IVs in their arms for rehydration. As rain began to fall in the afternoon, nurses rushed to carry them inside.

The United States will be vigilant of the energy cooperation deals made between Iran and Venezuela to make sure they do not violate sanctions against Tehran, the US State Department said Thursday.

"Venezuela like all countries has clear responsibilities," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

Gunshots struck the Pentagon early on Tuesday but failed to penetrate the building, officials said, as police investigated the source of the gunfire.

Pentagon police officers heard about four or five gunshots around 4:55 am (0855 GMT) fired near the south parking lot of the sprawling Defense Department headquarters, officials said.

Afghan election authorities cancelled 1.3 million votes in last month's parliamentary election, nearly a quarter of the 5.6 million ballots cast, the country's top electoral officer said Wednesday.

"The total number of ballots poured into the boxes was 5,600,000, the valid vote is 4,265,347, and the invalid vote is around 1,300,000," said Fazil Ahmad Manawi, head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in a house in northwest Pakistan close to his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, CNN on Monday quoted a NATO official as saying.

The Saudi-born militant wanted for the September 11 attacks on the United States nine years ago is being protected by local people and "some members of the Pakistani intelligence services," the television network said.

French high school students clashed with riot police Monday, truckers blocked roads and filling stations ran out of fuel as protests escalated against plans to raise the retirement age to 62.

Police fired tear gas at youths who set a car on fire, smashed bus stops and hurled rocks outside a school in a Paris suburb blocked by students protesting against a move that is central to President Nicolas Sarkozy's reform agenda.

Groups of insurgents stormed two government buildings in Russia's volatile Chechnya region on Tuesday, killing police officers and several employees of parliament, Russian news agencies reported.

One group of insurgents set off an explosive device at the entrance of the parliament complex in Grozny, while two others ran into the building, sparking a shootout with police, RIA Novosti reported, citing a law enforcement source.

The death toll from a coal mine blast in China has risen to 30, officials said Monday, as hopes faded for seven miners still trapped -- prompting anger from web users wishing for a Chile-style rescue.

Saturday's accident in the central province of Henan was the first major incident in China's notoriously dangerous mines since the dramatic rescue last week of 33 miners trapped for more than two months in Chile, watched worldwide.