South Sudan has accused Sudan of launching more air strikes against its territory to undermine international mediation efforts.

Government officials in Juba said Sudanese warplanes bombed Northern Bahr el Ghazal state on Monday and Tuesday. The allegations could not be independently confirmed and there was no response from Sudan.

Military spokesman Phillip Aguer said Khartoum has developed a pattern of striking when mediation efforts are under way.

Rare street protests of months of electricity cuts are being held in Burma’s second-largest city, Mandalay. Burma’s state media blames attacks by ethnic-Kachin rebels for worsening chronic power shortages.

Protesters gathered late Sunday in Mandalay, upset with power cuts that have left them with only several hours of electricity a day. Hundreds of people held a peaceful candle-lit walk through the streets and outside the local electric authority, demanding regular supplies of power.

Serbian President Boris Tadic has conceded defeat in the runoff presidential election against nationalist opposition candidate Tomislav Nikolic.

Unofficial results give Nikolic 50 percent of the vote and President Tadic 47 percent.

Turnout was less than half of all registered voters with some voters saying they did not like either candidate.

Tadic congratulated his opponent and urged him to keep Serbia on the path towards European Union membership.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has broken a week-long silence following his recent cancer therapy treatment.

Chavez told state TV by phone Friday that he is working eight hours daily, following his diet and resting.

The Socialist leader returned from his latest radiation treatment in Cuba eight days ago, but he has yet to disclose details about his condition.

Chavez began treatments in March following operations in February and last June to remove tumors from his pelvic area

The Pentagon accused China Friday of using cyber-espionage to improve its economy and expand its military.

In an annual report to Congress, the Department of Defense said, “Chinese actors are the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage.” The report went on to say that Chinese spying would continue to pose a growing threat to U.S. economic security.

The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region is visiting Turkey - his first trip there since taking office in March. The visit is expected to build on the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Iraq's Kurds. That process is being enhanced by deepening crises in Iraq and and mutual neighbor Syria.

Political analysts in Turkey see the visit by Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani as a sign of the growing importance of his Turkish neighbor.

New satellite images show North Korea has resumed construction on a new nuclear reactor, despite international criticism.

The U.S.-Korea Institute, operated by Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), says images taken by a commercial satellite on April 30 show Pyongyang has made progress on a light water reactor at its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued an executive order freezing U.S. assets of anyone considered to be threatening the success of the U.S.-backed political transition in Yemen.

In the order, Mr. Obama declares a national emergency with respect to "actions and policies of certain members of the government of Yemen, and others threatening peace, security or stability by obstructing implementation of last year's political transition agreement."

China and the Philippines have announced temporary bans on fishing in areas of the South China Sea they both claim as sovereign territory. The bans may help cool tempers after ships from the two sides faced off in April. But, political analysts say a more permanent solution is needed to address a cycle of conflict partly caused by depleting fish stocks.

China every year imposes a ban on fishing for several weeks in a northern part of the South China Sea.

Beijing says the restriction, used for more than a decade, allows fish stocks to replenish.