SYDNEY (AFP) - – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard lost her election lead to the opposition Saturday, with polling showing her party's popularity sinking to levels that prompted the shock axing of her predecessor.

SHANGHAI - A blast rocked a local tax office in central China, killing at least four people and injuring 19, in what police say appeared to be a deliberate attack, the official Xinhua news agency said Saturday.

LONDON (AFP) - – Pakistan's intelligence agency has scrapped a planned visit to Britain in protest at Prime Minister David Cameron's comments on the export of terror, The Times newspaper reported Saturday.

KAMPALA (AFP) - – A Ugandan court on Friday charged three Kenyans with 76 counts of murder, the first such cases opened against suspects in the July 11 suicide attacks in Kampala which targeted football fans watching the World Cup final.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Incoming BP boss Bob Dudley has vowed that the firm would stand by Gulf residents for years to come, as it prepared to scale back oil spill clean-up efforts and move to a new phase.

By Allison Jackson

BEIJING: An oil spill in northeastern China may have been about 60 times bigger than the government reported, making it among the world's worst known oil disasters, an environmental group said today.

MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino today launched a "Truth Commission" with broad powers to investigate alleged corruption and vote fraud by his predecessor, Gloria Arroyo.

By Cat Barton

DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers blocked highways, attacked factories and looted shops in Dhaka today, police said, after rejecting the terms of a government wage hike.