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NAGASAKI — The Nagasaki municipal government held a ceremony Saturday marking the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, at which participants called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

A total of 5,650 A-bomb survivors, representatives of victims' families from around the nation and Nagasaki citizens participated in the ceremony. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also attended the ceremony, which was held in Nagasaki Peace Park near ground zero.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue read out the Nagasaki Peace Declaration, which urges the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons. "Human beings have no future unless nuclear weapons are eliminated. We shall clearly say no to nuclear weapons," Taue said.

OUAGADOUGOU — Heavy rains caused a mudslide at an illegal gold mine in Burkina Faso that killed at least 31 people, state-run radio said.

Miners dug through the mud to try to rescue survivors and pull out bodies in the mining village of Boussoukoula in southwest Burkina Faso, state radio said.

The accident comes after a June government order for unofficial mines to close until Sept. 30 because of the risk of accidents during the rainy season, when hastily dug tunnels can easily collapse.

URUMQI — Several explosions rocked a county in a restive region of western China early Sunday, killing at least two people and seriously injuring several others, hospital and state media said.

The explosions occurred amid tightened security after an attack here last week left 16 border police dead and 15 others wounded in the Muslim region of Xinjiang.

The early morning blasts occurred in Kuqa county in Xinjiang's south, said a woman who was on duty at Kuqa People's Hospital's emergency unit.

The official Xinhua News Agency said at least two people were killed, and cited witnesses as saying they saw flashes of fire and heard gunshots after the blasts. Xinhua said police have sealed off the area where the explosions occurred and troops have been deployed.

GAZA CITY — Mahmoud Darwish, whose poetry gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile, occupation and infighting, died on Saturday in Houston. He was 67.

The predominant Palestinian poet, whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages and won numerous international awards, died after open-heart surgery at a Houston hospital, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Born to a large Muslim family in historical Palestine — now modern-day Israel — he emerged as a Palestinian cultural icon eloquently describing his people's struggle for independence while also criticizing both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian leadership. He gave voice to the Palestinian dreams of statehood, crafted their declaration of independence and helped forge a Palestinian national identity.

Darwish first gained prominence in the 1960s with the publication of his first poetry collection, "Bird Without Wings." He wrote another 21 collections, the last, "The Impression of Butterflies," in 2008.

CARACAS — About 3,000 opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marched through the capital Saturday to protest a package of laws that expands his power and accelerates his push toward socialism.

Shouting chants and waving balloons reading "play fair," they complained that some of the laws resemble constitutional reforms sought by Chavez that voters rejected at the polls in December.

Chavez approved the package of 26 laws on July 31, the last day of special legislative powers granted him by the National Assembly. He says the new rules — which increase government control over food production and commerce and create civilian militias, among other things — will strengthen the country's institutions.

The demonstrators also railed against a Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that 272 officials suspected of corruption, including some key Chavez opponents, can be banned from running in upcoming elections.

DAMASCUS — Syria said Saturday that it would bar U.N. nuclear investigators from revisiting a site bombed by Israeli jets on suspicion it was a secretly built atomic reactor.

The move dealt a blow to International Atomic Energy Agency efforts to follow up on intelligence indicating Syria was hiding a nuclear program that could be used to make weapons.

Syria denies it has hidden nuclear facilities.

Justifying its decision, a Foreign Ministry official told reporters Syria's agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog — which already inspected the site in June — allowed only one visit.