Mexico City - An earthquak

Basel, Switzerland  - A collection of 70 landscape paintings by Vincent Van Gogh will open in Basel next week, the Kunstmuseum in the Swiss city announced Thursday.

The art museum is billing the exhibition, set to run until September, as "the world's first complete survey of landscape paintings" by the Dutch legend.

Alongside the main exhibit, the museum will also put on display landscapes from Van Gogh's contemporaries in France, where he spent the last years of his short life, including Camille Corot and Henri Matisse.

London  - A rare collection of early paintings by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler fetched more than 95,000 pounds (139,000 dollars) at auction in Britain Thursday.

The 13 pictures, including oil and water colours, were painted between 1908 and 1914, when the Nazi leader was in his 20s and hoping to become an artist, specialist auctioneers Mullock's said.

Berlin  - Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi was awarded one of Germany's top prizes Tuesday for her human rights advocacy work, and vowed that she would continue her efforts despite threats posed by Tehran authorities.

Together with Paris-based organization Reporters without Borders, Ebadi was awarded the Roland Berger Human Dignity Award by German President Horst Koehler. The prize was established in Germany last year to promote peaceful cooperation in the world.

Kabul  - Five Afghan security guards, two civilians, five suspected militants, and two unidentified persons were killed by Afghan and international forces in the latest clashes and explosions in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday.

A bomb hidden in a bicycle went off Saturday in Kandahar city, capital of the province of the same name, killing two civilians including a woman and wounding four more, provincial police chief Matiullah Qateh said.

Beirut - An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter Scale struck southern Lebanon Friday afternoon, causing fear and panic among the residents, Lebanese police said.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the tremors.

The quake, which was felt at around 1200 GMT, was also detected in northern Israel.

Rashid Jumaa of Lebanon's Geophysical Institute, told the German News Agency dpa that the quake was felt in areas east of the southern port city of Tyre and the village of Srifa.