On the surface not much has changed for Colonel Gary Councell since he became director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries on May 1.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is joining other aid organizations in responding to survivors of Tropical Cyclone Nargis, a 10-hour storm that killed an estimated 22,000 people and left more than 40,000 unaccounted for when it slammed Myanmar last weekend, the Foreign Ministry said.

"Don't worry," Ken Norton tells uncertain church members during his guest-preaching gigs. "I have my license." He means his driver's license, not his ministerial credential.

Reger C. Smith Jr., a Seventh-day Adventist musician and designer who served as the world church's Associate Communication Director for Public Relations, died May 8 following a lengthy illness at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Chinese rescuers battle rain and blocked roads as they try to reach thousands buried by a devastating earthquake.

Colombia extradites 14 former paramilitary bosses to face drugs charges in the US after they violated a peace deal.

Hillary Clinton says her win in West Virginia means the race for the Democratic nomination is not over yet.

US President George Bush travels to Israel to take part in celebrations of the country's 60th anniversary.

At least 60 people are killed after a series of bomb blasts in the historic city of Jaipur in western India, police say.

A senior US diplomat says North Korea appears to have handed over full details of its plutonium programme.

Thousands more Mexican troops and federal police are deployed to fight the drug barons after a wave of police murders.

Brazil's environment minister resigns, after reported conflicts with the government over Amazon development.

A Lucian Freud painting of a sleeping, naked woman sells for $33.6m (£17.2m) in New York, a new record.