MANILA (AFP) - A powerful Muslim politician went on trial Wednesday, accused of murdering 57 people in the worst political massacre in the Philippines, AFP reporters in the courtroom said.

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Gunmen sprayed people with automatic weapons fire at a shoe factory in Honduras' second city San Pedro Sula Tuesday, killing 15 people, authorities said.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's core private-sector machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, rose 8.8 percent in July from the previous month, official data showed Wednesday.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) - A state of emergency in the earthquake-hit New Zealand city of Christchurch has been extended for another week, a civil defence ministry official said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top US law enforcement official Eric Holder on Tuesday described as "idiotic and dangerous" a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.