Asia Logistical problems hampered a massive humanitarian relief operation along Asia's devastated shores as the death toll from a huge earthquake and killer tidal waves surged past 55,000. Asia Indonesia's death toll leapt to more than 27,000 as desperate SOS calls came from an obliterated coastline which is emerging as ground zero for a seismic catclysm unleashed on Asia. Asia Thousands of tsunami victims were buried in mass graves as the death toll neared 18,000 and Sri Lanka's president called for ethnic unity to tackle the crisis. Asia US Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted the United States has not been "stingy" in its response to the Asian tsunami disaster but admitted that a much more international aid would have to be given. Asia The Norwegian government said between 700 and 800 of its citizens were unaccounted for in Thailand after giant tidal waves struck Asian coastlines. Iraq At least 43 people were killed as insurgents launched a string of attacks on Iraqi security forces and other targets, raising questions about their readiness to secure landmark elections next month. Ukraine Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko called on his supporters to renew their blockade of government headquarters to prevent his presidential rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich from chairing a cabinet meeting there the next day. US The US Central Intelligence Agency indicated it is relatively certain that the voice on an audiotape aired by Al-Jazeera is that of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, an intelligence official said. Saudi Saudi police killed three armed men in central Riyadh in the latest violence to hit the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, security sources said. Romania The Romanian parliament approved the reformist government of Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu, who has pledged to fight corruption and get the former communist nation into the European Union, parliamentary officials announced. US American feminist author Susan Sontag died at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering medical center at the age of 71, following a long struggle against cancer, the hospital announced.