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BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant group based in the oil-producing Niger Delta said on Sunday it had attacked an oil pipeline owned by Italian firm Eni where witnesses said there was a fire late on Saturday.

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's King Mohammed issued pardons to several leading Islamists who rights groups say were unfairly jailed, signaling a less hardline approach after moderate Islamists came to power in an election last year.

KABUL (Reuters) - A car bomb in the south Afghan city of Kandahar killed at least seven people and wounded 19 on Sunday, the province's media office said.

MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahraini opposition parties, launching a week-long 'sit-in' for political reforms at a mass rally, swore on Sunday to take their campaign to the centre of last year's democracy protest in the capital Manama.

MUNICH (Reuters) - An Israeli raid on Iran's nuclear facilities would deliver a painful shock to the global economy, revive flagging Islamist militancy and possibly drag the United States into a regional war whether it backed its ally's attack or not.

KABUL (Reuters) - A secret NATO report showing the strength of confidence among the Afghan Taliban is raising concerns from Kabul to Washington that the militant group might overrun the country again when foreign combat forces finally leave.

CAIRO (Reuters) - An explosion hit a gas pipeline running from Egypt to Israel Sunday, witnesses and state television reported.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Three Tibetans in southwestern China have set themselves ablaze in protest against Chinese rule, Radio Free Asia reported, the latest in a series of self-immolations over the past year.

KIEV (Reuters) - Bitterly cold weather that has claimed hundreds of lives in eastern Europe swept westwards over the continent on Saturday, blanketing Rome's Colosseum with snow for the first time in three decades and disrupting air and rail traffic.

BAMAKO/KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Mali's defense ministry said on Saturday the armed forces had killed about 20 northern separatist rebels and taken a dozen more prisoner during two days of clashes in the Timbuktu region.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Russians defied bitter cold in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair elections in a march against Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, while supporters of the prime minister staged a rival rally drawing comparable numbers.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military faced pressure on Saturday to speed up its transfer of power to civilians, as top public figures demanded a faster transition and street protests against army rule disrupted the heart of Cairo for a third day.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mounted a lavish celebration on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed coup that helped launch his political career, as opposition leaders slammed the event as a blemish on the country's democracy.

(Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Vancouver Island on Saturday, some 209 miles west of Victoria, the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC on Saturday upheld a decision to ban youth leader Julius Malema for five years for bringing the movement into disrepute, sending into the political wilderness a noisy rebel who had called for the nationalisation of mines.

MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrainis of different political stripes faced off in a rare forum on Saturday to try to bridge deep rifts against a backdrop of continued disturbances outside the Gulf Arab state's capital.

BEIRUT/MUNICH (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in an assault on the city of Homs, activists said, the bloodiest day of an 11-month uprising giving sudden urgency to a push for a U.N. resolution calling for President Bashar al-Assad to cede power.

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain warned China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun on Saturday that "the Arab Spring is coming to China" and highlighted the number of Tibetans burning themselves to death in his country.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government on Saturday struggled on in talks with lenders to secure a 130 billion euro ($171 bilion) bailout before turning to the trickier task of persuading political leaders to back the unpopular reforms involved in the rescue.