Two people accused of holding three women captive in a London house for 30 years were released on bail Friday, as Britain struggled to come to terms with its worst case of modern-day slavery.

The man and a woman, both 67, were bailed pending further police investigation into the "barbaric" plight of the women, who include a 30-year-old who detectives believe spent her entire life in servitude.

Ukraine on Friday faced accusations from the West it had bowed to Russian pressure and missed a historic opportunity after the government scrapped plans to sign a deal to deepen ties with the European Union.

Hundreds of pro-EU Ukrainians turned out late at night on Independence Square in the capital Kiev to protest the decision, with opposition leaders calling for a mass rally on Sunday which they hope will muster 100,000 people.

An oil pipeline exploded Friday in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, killing 35 people, state media said, in the latest deadly industrial accident in the country.

The force of the blast ripped roads apart, turning cars over and sending thick black smoke billowing over the city, pictures showed.

Afghanistan on Friday rebuffed a U.S. demand to sign a highly anticipated security pact as soon as possible, insisting the document must wait until after next year's presidential election.

Washington warned Kabul on Thursday to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) pact as soon as possible, with senior officials hinting that delaying beyond the end of this year could mean no post-2014 U.S. troop presence.

Protesters hurled eggs at the Australian embassy in Jakarta Friday, as Indonesia's former spy chief dismissed official anger at espionage allegations as an overreaction and said tapping leaders' phones was "normal".

Demonstrators in military-style uniforms gathered outside the mission to vent their anger over claims the Indonesian president's phone was tapped, hurling eggs and tomatoes at and over the wall of the compound.

North Korea on Friday marked the anniversary of its shelling of a South Korean border island with a threat to turn South Korea's presidential office into a "sea of fire.”

The threat came as the South's army, navy, air force and marine corps launched an intensive military drill on and around Yeonpyeong Island in memory of the incident in which four people were killed in November 2010.

Iranian negotiators said Friday that progress was being made in talks in Geneva with world powers, expressing hope to bridge differences and sign an elusive deal over Tehran's nuclear drive.

The remarks came after they said Thursday "no progress" had been made over points of differences on the second day of intensive talks in the Swiss city with the so-called P5+1 group.

Rescuers in Riga retrieved bodies from a collapsed supermarket Friday and combed the rubble for survivors as the death toll from Latvia's worst post-Soviet disaster mounted to 45.

The roof of the Maxima supermarket smashed down on customers during peak shopping hours around 6:00 pm on Thursday in the Riga suburb of Zolitude.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday called for North Korea to release an 85-year-old pensioner and Korea War veteran who has been detained in the isolated country for more than three weeks.

Without mentioning Merrill Newman by name, Kerry told MSNBC television that his detention was one of many "disturbing choices by the North Koreans."

China has tested its first stealth combat drone, state media said Friday, citing online photos of an aircraft resembling a shrunken U.S. B2 bomber and hailing the advance toward Western-level technology.

The test flight of the "Sharp Sword" unmanned aircraft is another step in China's years-long military build-up, with its defense spending now the second highest in the world and growing by double-digit percentages each year.