Taiyuan -- Rescuers said they had nearly finished search and rescue operations in a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province, and confirmed a total of 104 bodies had been recovered from the pit by Friday, fewer than the total of 105 which they had feared.

The gas explosion happened at 11:15 pm Wednesday inside the Xinyao Coal Mine, a village-run coal mining venture in Hongtong County, Linfen City.

SEOUL - A Hong Kong-registered oil tanker collided with another vessel in seas off South Korea's west coast Friday and leaked about 110,000 barrels of crude oil, the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry said.

The collision left three holes in the 146,000-ton tanker Hebbei Spirit, leading to what was believed to South Korea's largest offshore oil leak, a ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity citing office policy.

Bali - A strong earthquake rattled Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Friday, where thousands of people were gathering for a UN climate change conference. It did not trigger a tsunami warning and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The underwater tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 and was centered 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Jember, in East Java province, Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said.

China experienced serious drought this year, which was the worst for a decade, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Friday.