World news: Syria shows off deserted streets after crackdown

Syria's government has shown off TV and still images of burned buildings and rubble-strewn streets empty of people in Hama, the epicenter of anti-regime protests, claiming it was putting an end to the rebellion in the besieged city.

Under the suffocating clampdown, residents of the city yesterday warned that medical supplies were running out and food was rotting after six days without electricity.

Across the country, tens of thousands of protesters marched, chanting their solidarity with Hama and demanding President Bashar Assad's removal.

They were met by security forces who opened fire, killing at least 13 people, activists said.

Also on Friday, the US State Department urged Americans to leave the country immediately

Government forces began their ferocious assault on Hama last Sunday, cutting off electricity, phones and internet, and blocking supplies into the city of 800,000 as they shelled neighbourhoods and sent in tanks and ground raids.

Human rights groups say at least 100 people have been killed, while some estimates put the number as high as 250.

Nato chopper crashes in Afghanistan

A NATO helicopter crashed overnight in east Afghanistan, an Afghan government official said today.

Coalition and Afghan officials were investigating the crash site in Sayd Abad district of Wardak province.

Nato says it is investigating a helicopter incident in the area but has not confirmed a crash or released details.

The Taliban claimed its fighters shot down the helicopter, killing the crew.

Grease star loses cancer battle

Annette Charles, who played bad girl Cha Cha in Grease, has died in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. The 63-year-old's death comes little more than two months after the death of Grease actor Jeff Conaway, whose character Kenickie was Cha Cha's date at the school dance.

Mass marks mine collapse

President Sebastian Pinera joined most of Chile's 33 rescued miners at a celebratory Mass, a year after the San Jose mine collapsed, trapping the men half a mile below the surface.

The mine has been closed since the men were pulled out alive 69 days after their ordeal began.

Police guilty of shootings

A US jury convicted five current and former police officers of gunning down people on a New Orleans bridge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Sgts Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon were convicted of civil rights violations over the shootings that killed two people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the storm. They face possible life prison sentences.Motorway horror kills 17

A PILE-UP on a southern Chinese motorway today killed 17 people and injured four, according to the state news agency.

This morning's accident in Jiangxi happened when a truck hit another vehicle, then flipped into oncoming traffic. Twelve people were declared dead at the scene and five others died in a hospital.