ILORIN (NIGERIA) - Visibly frail and malnourished children and women lay on rows of hospital beds, their bodies bearing the scars of six months of captivity deep in the Nigerian bush.

BOGOTá - Colombia on Wednesday declared three days of mourning for victims of an earthquake that demolished buildings in the west of the country, killing more than 200 people.

HARARE (ZIMBABWE) - At least 44 people drowned after an overcrowded ferry capsized on Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba, police said Wednesday, releasing an updated toll a day after the disaster.

BEIJING - Zhu Rongji, China's former premier who died on Wednesday aged 97, championed free-market policies and delivered far-reaching economic reforms during his five years at the helm.

BEIJING - Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, whose market reforms helped drive the country's extraordinary economic rise, died Wednesday at the age of 97.