A strong earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Sunday in the same region devastated by a giant tsunami and temblor 2-1/2 years ago, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck shortly after midday, and was centered off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, and 50 kilometers (30 miles) below the seabed.

Three Chinese coastguard ships on Sunday remained near disputed waters around a set of islands controlled by Tokyo but claimed by both countries after entering the contested zone a day earlier, Japan's coastguard said.

Four Chinese coastguard vessels have stayed in the area in the past several days, with three of them sailing into the territorial waters shortly after 5:00 pm (0800 GMT) on Saturday, the Japanese coastguard said.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was mobbed by hundreds of angry mourners Sunday as he attended the funeral service for a young conscript who died after allegedly being abused by his officers.

Protestors, including relatives and sympathizers, shouted "We want truth" as Ma, protected by security guards, made his way to the funeral site at the soldier's home in the central city of Taichung.

North Korea has cut short summer military drills to mobilize troops for flood relief efforts after torrential rains left dozens killed and ravaged farmlands nationwide, a South Korean report said Sunday.

The North's military ordered troops based in the country's west and southeast regions to hold "minimum" summer exercises and to instead focus on post-floods reconstruction, Yonhap news agency said.

The White House held a high-level meeting Saturday on terror concerns that prompted Washington to issue a worldwide travel alert and order its embassies across the Islamic world closed temporarily.

The meeting was held as Interpol issued a global security alert after hundreds of militants were set free in jailbreaks linked to the al-Qaida terror network, and as suicide bombers killed nine near the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.

Turkey's top military council on Saturday appointed new commanders in what observers said was further evidence that the government now controlled the once all-powerful army.

The Supreme Military Council chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided on the forced retirement of gendarmerie force commander General Bekir Kalyoncu, who had been expected to become land forces commander.

Gunmen shot dead four policemen on a patrol in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi Saturday, police said.

The policemen were killed at a bridge linking Shah Faisal colony to the low-income Korangi neighbourhood of Karachi.

A 72-year-old German was arrested on the Greek island of Chios in the eastern Aegean suspected of spying on behalf of unknown Turkish nationals, police said Saturday.

"For at least three years, he photographed camps and other infrastructure of the (Greek) armed forces in Chios and was paid to give the material to Turkish nationals," the police said in a statement.

Zimbabwe's 89-year-old Robert Mugabe romped to victory in presidential and parliamentary polls on Saturday, but his longtime foe Morgan Tsvangirai vowed to boycott the government formed by the "fraudulent" vote.

The veteran leader scored another five years in office, extending his 33-year rule with a landslide 61 percent of the vote, against Tsvangirai's 34 percent.

A new outbreak of tribal violence in Sudan's Darfur region has killed nine people, official media said on Saturday, in fighting that has added to worsening insecurity in the region.

The deaths occurred during two days of unrest involving Arabs and the non-Arab Fur tribe in Kebkabiya, North Darfur, the SUNA news agency reported.