Australia said Thursday it would continue scheduled live-fire naval exercises with China, even after close ally the United States sent a warship into disputed South China Sea waters this week.

On Tuesday, Washington sent its USS Lassen destroyer within 12 nautical miles of small artificial islands in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing and vowed to send more, sparking fury in China.

Rescuers said Thursday they believed they have reached most of those affected by the powerful earthquake that ripped across Pakistan this week, but thousands of desperate survivors now face a race to rebuild with winter fast approaching.

Rugged terrain, severed communication lines and an unstable security situation have impeded relief efforts since Monday's 7.5 magnitude quake killed more than 390 people in Pakistan and Afghanistan and levelled thousands of homes.

Violence between rival clans in the southern Philippines has claimed seven lives in one week with both sides clashing violently on Thursday, authorities said.

Two people were shot dead and two houses burned in the latest outbreak of violence in the strife-torn island of Mindanao, said regional military spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay.

Sudanese security agents arrested three opposition figures in Khartoum on Wednesday, their party said, despite efforts by the government to persuade opponents to join national dialogue talks.

"The armed force of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested three members of the Sudanese Congress Party," the party said in a statement.

U.S. Republicans on Wednesday nominated popular conservative Paul Ryan as their candidate for speaker of the House of Representatives -- a move they hope will unite their fractured camp after weeks of political infighting.

Barring any disaster, Ryan will -- in a full vote in the Republican-controlled House set for Thursday -- be elevated to the most important job in Congress, putting him second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president.

A massive U.S. surveillance blimp broke loose from its mooring Wednesday, sparking power outages as it drifted over the east of the country dragging a 6,700-foot cable before eventually sinking down to Earth, officials said.

Two U.S. F-16s fighter jets were scrambled to pursue the so-called JLENS blimp as it floated northeast of Washington at an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,875 meters).

At least five migrants including three children, died Wednesday after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said.

One of the boats had around 100 migrants aboard when it sank north of the Greek island of Lesbos, it said.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos offered Wednesday to declare a bilateral ceasefire with the FARC guerrillas from January 1, which would mark a major breakthrough in peace talks.

In an address from the presidential palace, Santos offered to grant the leftist rebels' longstanding demand for a bilateral ceasefire as part of their nearly three-year-old peace negotiations with the government.

Former House speaker Dennis Hastert, once second in line to the U.S. presidency, pleaded guilty Wednesday to making illegal bank transactions, allegedly for hush-money payouts.

The 73-year-old Hastert entered his plea under a deal with prosecutors, who recommended a sentence of up to six months in prison.

Russia has put a 19-year-old female student behind bars on suspicion of attempting to join a terrorist group after Turkey detained her close to the Syrian border in June.

Moscow's Lefortovo court ruled that Varvara Karaulova be detained behind bars until December 23, the court's spokeswoman Yulia Skotnikova told TASS state news agency.