The Indian navy has captured 61 suspected Somali pirates and rescued 13 fishermen after a firefight with a pirate mother ship in the Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said Monday.

"A total of 74 men have been apprehended of which 61 are suspected to be Somali pirates," Indian navy spokesman P.V.S Satish said, adding the incident happened on Saturday night within Indian waters.

The primary containment vessel at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan was not damaged in an explosion there Monday, the U.N. atomic watchdog IAEA said.

"Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has provided the IAEA with further information about the hydrogen explosion that occurred today at the Unit 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

At least three militants died Monday in a U.S. strike on a vehicle in a tribal town in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The drone fired two missiles on a suspect vehicle and initial reports suggest three militants were killed, according to a security official, requesting anonymity.

Thousands of Turkish journalists took to the streets here on Sunday demanding the release of colleagues in prison and raising the issue of press freedom.

Journalists supported by activists, intellectuals, and some opposition parties marched in central Istanbul.

Militants opened fire on a passenger van in a lawless northwestern Pakistani town on Sunday, killing at least eight Shiite Muslims and wounding seven others, police said.

The incident took place in Hangu district, 150 kilometers southwest of Peshawar, the capital of insurgency-hit Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.

Two Chinese dissidents who were sentenced to 10 years in prison for getting together to talk about political reform and posting their views online have been released after completing their jail terms, their fathers said Sunday.

Xu Wei, a former reporter, and Jin Haike, a writer, were detained in 2001 and convicted of subversion in 2003 after taking part in an informal study group in Beijing that met privately to talk about democratic reform.

Japan battled a feared meltdown of two reactors at a quake-hit nuclear plant Sunday, as the full horror of the disaster emerged on the ravaged northeast coast with thousands feared dead.

An explosion at the ageing Fukushima atomic plant blew off the roof and walls around one of its reactors Saturday, a day after the biggest quake ever recorded in Japan unleashed a monster 10-meter tsunami.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged international troops to "stop their operations in our land" Saturday on a visit to relatives of nine children killed in a NATO air strike.

"I would like to ask NATO and the U.S. with honor and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land," Karzai said.

An explosion and feared meltdown at one of Japan's nuclear plants Saturday exposed the scale of the disaster facing Japan after a massive quake and tsunami hit the northeast, leaving more than 1,000 people feared dead.

Reactor cooling systems failed at two plants after Friday's record 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit, unleashing a terrifying 10-meter (33-foot) high wave that tore through coastal towns and cities, destroying all in its path.

A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.