Pakistan An earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter Scale caused massive devastation across a swathe of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, leaving more than 1,1000 people feared dead. Pakistan Thirty-five people were feared killed when a courtroom and two schools collapsed in northern Pakistan during a huge quake, police and officials said. Mexico Devastating Tropical Storm Stan has killed at least 278 people in Central America and Mexico after lashing the region for days with relentless rain, authorities said. Iraq The US military said its troops had wrapped up a six-day anti-rebel sweep in western Iraq, killing "more than 50 Al-Qaeda terrorists." Indonesia The death toll among victims of Bali's suicide bombings has risen to 20, an Indonesian official announced as police said one of the suspected masterminds was in the resort island just before the blasts. US A lawyer linked to controversial White House debates on narrowing the definition of torture has withdrawn his bid to become the second-ranking official at the US Justice Department, in a new political setback for President George W. Bush. Mideast Israel wants to see the Middle East peace roadmap dusted off, but insists the Palestinian Authority dismantle "terrorist" groups as a first step, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said. China Nearly 200 members of the central committee of China's Communist Party opened a four-day meeting in Beijing which is arguably the most important event on the nation's political calendar. Health US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is leaving for southeast Asia to discuss ways to head off a potentially catastrophic pandemic of bird flu that scientists say could kill millions of people.