A strong earthquake measuring 5.9 struck the U.S. east coast on Tuesday, rattling buildings in downtown Washington and causing evacuations of buildings as far away as New York.

The Pentagon was evacuated after the region's rare temblor, which according to the U.S. Geological Survey had its epicenter near Richmond, Virginia.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday declared a two-week ceasefire in South Kordofan state which has been rocked since June by violent clashes between the Sudanese army and Nuba rebels.

"I declare a unilateral two-week ceasefire," Bashir said in a speech broadcast on state radio during his visit to Kadugli, the capital of the state of South Kordofan.

At least 15 people were killed when a blaze ripped through a dormitory building belonging to a ceramics factory in southern China early Tuesday, the local fire department said.

The fire engulfed a four-storey building of the Shengfeng Ceramics Factory in Foshan city, a manufacturing center in the southern province of Guangdong, the local government said in a statement on its website.

African leaders will meet Thursday to pledge funds to tackle the famine in Somalia and extreme drought across the Horn of Africa which are putting millions of people at risk of starvation.

African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping will appeal to the continents' leaders and the international community to assist more than 12 million drought-hit people in the region, during a pledging conference in the Ethiopian capital.

Up to 700 Afghans marched through Kabul on Tuesday to protest against a decision by the country's election commission to throw nine lawmakers out of parliament in a dispute over vote fraud.

The protestors condemned the United Nations, accusing its mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, of interference, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's armored train arrived Tuesday in an eastern Siberian city for a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The North Korean leader stepped out of his train in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, a Buddhist province near Lake Baikal, Russian news agencies reported. Kim's motorcade left town in the direction of Turka, a picturesque village on the shores of Baikal, the Russian ITAR-Tass news agencies reported.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday pledged to pursue peace with China as he paid homage to hundreds of people killed during a Chinese artillery attack over half a century ago.

Ma made the remark at a ceremony on the offshore island of Kinmen, where hundreds were killed in a 44-day Chinese artillery bombardment that began on August 23, 1958.

Australian police on Tuesday said they will investigate allegations that a government MP used a former employer's credit card to pay for prostitutes, in a move that could derail Labor's fragile rule.

Craig Thomson allegedly paid for sex workers and escorts with a card issued by the Health Services Union during his employment there in 2003 and 2005.

Tropical Storm Irene gained strength as it passed over Puerto Rico early Monday and was officially declared a hurricane, U.S. government forecasters said.

The hurricane, whose eye was located 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of San Juan, now packed sustained winds of 125 kilometers an hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center announced.

The mayor of a Russian town just outside Moscow was shot dead Monday in a possible contract killing, investigators said.

Yevgeny Dushko, mayor of Sergiyev Posad, a town of 105,000 people some 60 kilometers north of the capital, was leaving his apartment building at 7:30 am (03:30 GMT) when an unidentified gunman shot him twice, the Investigative Committee said.