(CNN) — Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez, who led the island nation out of dire economic times, was re-elected to a third term on Saturday, according to election results.

Fernandez took nearly 54 percent of the vote in a multi-party race, avoiding a runoff. His main rival, center-leftist candidate Miguel Vargas, took roughly 40 percent of the vote and said he accepted the results shortly after Fernandez declared victory.

In an exclusive interview with CNN en Espanol, Fernandez called on opposition members to work with him to continue efforts that have turned the Dominican Republic into one of the fastest-growing economies in the Caribbean.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) — Sen. Edward Kennedy apparently suffered a seizure Saturday morning before being rushed to the hospital, a statement from his family said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday he spoke to the wife of the Massachussetts Democrat, Vicki, and that she told him that her husband is going to be fine.

“Everyone knows he is a strong fighter,” Reid said, speaking at the Nevada state Democratic Party convention.

Later Saturday, a spokesman for Kennedy said the senator was conscious, laughing and joking with family members and watching a Boston Red Sox baseball game on television.

BAGHDAD (CNN) — A soldier used the Quran– Islam’s holy book — for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya in the western outskirts of Baghdad for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter.

It was the first time the incident was made public.

“I come before you here seeking your forgiveness,” Hammand said to tribal leaders and others at the apology ceremony. “In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers.”

Another military official kissed a Quran and presented is as “a humble gift” to the tribal leaders.

The shooter, whose name was not released, shot at a Quran on May 9, villagers said. The Quran used in the incident was discovered two days later, according to the military.

BEICHUAN, China (CNN) — A strong aftershock rattled areas still reeling from a massive earthquake in China, while fears of flash flooding and landslides hindered rescue efforts as the death toll continued to rise.

Sunday’s 6.0-magnitude aftershock shook the region near the border of Sichuan and Gansu provinces just after 1 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said in a preliminary report. Thousands of aftershocks have plagued the area since Monday’s deadly 7.9-magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was over Wenchuan County Sichuan province’s Wenchuan County.

There was no immediate information on the impact of the quake.

Just hours earlier, concerns over a damaged dam and rising water levels at two lakes triggered the mass evacuation of 30,000 people — including rescuers and journalists — in at least 10 villages and townships, Chinese officials said.

(CNN) — Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown has won the Preakness Stakes, keeping alive hopes of horse racing’s first Triple Crown in two decades.

After a convincing win at the Derby, Big Brown had been one of the widest betting favorites in the history of the race and didn’t disappoint, driving late to take the win by 6 1/2 lengths.

Big Brown could become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. The third leg, the Belmont Stakes, will be June 7 in New York.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — A man with a rifle shot at people near a church Saturday morning in San Fernando Valley and wounded three people, Los Angeles police said.

Two of the victims were in stable condition, while one was in critical condition, Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said.

The call about the shooting, at a church in Granada Hills, came in around 10:57 a.m. PT (1:57 p.m. ET), she said.

She said the suspect was in custody.

No other information was immediately available.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) — Sen. Edward Kennedy apparently suffered a seizure Saturday morning before being rushed to the hospital, a statement from his family said.

“It appears that Senator Kennedy experienced a seizure this morning,” they said.

“He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours.”

The senator had been staying at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport, which is in Cape Cod.

BEICHUAN, China (CNN) — A strong 6.0-magnitude aftershock shook the region near the border of Sichuan and Gansu provinces on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a preliminary report.

Thousands of aftershocks have plagued the area since Monday’s deadly 7.9-magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was in Sichuan province.

The aftershock was 50 miles (81 km) west-southwest of Guangyuan in Sichuan province, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), and occurred at 1:08 a.m. (1:08 p.m. ET) Sunday, the USGS said.

There was no immediate information on the impact of the quake.

(CNN) — Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was rushed to the hospital Saturday morning, is currently “under evaluation,” a statement from his office said.

“Senator Kennedy went to Cape Cod Hospital this morning after feeling ill at his home,” the brief statement said about the Massachusetts lawmaker.

“After discussion with his doctors in Boston, Senator Kennedy was sent to Massachusetts General Hospital for further examination.”

(CNN) — Sen. Edward Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturday after spending less than an hour in the Cape Cod Hospital emergency room, a spokesman for the Cape Cod facility told CNN.

David Reilly said Kennedy was admitted to their emergency room around 9 a.m. ET. A well-informed, prominent Democratic source in Massachusetts told CNN that the 76-year-old senator seemed to have “symptoms of a stroke.”

Massachusetts General in Boston would not confirm or deny whether Kennedy was there.

(CNN) — Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai canceled his return to Harare from South Africa on Saturday, after receiving information from a “credible source” about a planned assassination, his spokesman said Saturday.

A statement released to CNN by George Sibotshiwe (prono: si bote SHE way), with Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said, “We are not in a position to say whether this threat concerns actions of the state or a non-state actor. …  The entire leadership of the MDC, leaders of democratic forces within the country and every Zimbabwean is at risk from this brutal regime.”

Chen Chimutengwende, Zimbabwe’s minister of public and interactive affairs, accused Tsvangirai of “trying to paint a false picture of what Zaimbabwe and Zimbabwe authorities are like. There is no plot against him and there has never been any plot against him and he knows that.”

He called the reports from Tsvangirai’s party “an effort to get sympathy from the international community.”

Tsvangirai won more votes than President Robert Mugabe in the presidential election on March 29, but he did not garner enough votes to avoid a runoff, now set for June 27. The MDC contends Tsvangirai won the election with 50.3 percent of the vote, giving him the necessary majority.

(CNN) — The board of the NAACP has chosen 35-year-old Ben Jealous as the group’s new president following a contentious debate that lasted late into the night, NAACP board sources said Saturday.

When the 34-21 vote was announced, “no one clapped or celebrated,” one board member said after the meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sources said Jealous, a former newspaper editor and Amnesty International director, was the lone finalist for the post of president, vacant for more than a year.

He was the primary choice of board Chairman Julian Bond, sources said.

(CNN) — Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai canceled his return to Harare from South Africa on Saturday, after receiving information from a “credible source” about a planned assassination, his spokesman said Saturday.

A statement released to CNN by Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said, in part: “We are not in a position to say whether this threat concerns actions of the state or a non-state actor.

“It should be noted that Mr. Tsvangirai is not the only person under threat at the moment. The entire leadership of the MDC, leaders of democratic forces within the country and every Zimbabwean is at risk from this brutal regime.”

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is in Baghdad Saturday for a visit, a U.S. Embassy official told CNN.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — One person was killed and 16 people were wounded Saturday when two suicide bombers detonated explosives near the office of an awakening council in Diyala’s provincial capital of Baquba, police and a medical source in the city said.

The attack happened shortly past noon when a female bomber struck outside the council office, the medical source said. The bomber appeared to be in her late teens, the source said.

As police were making their way to the hospital — some of them transporting the wounded — a male bomber in a car detonated his explosives, police said. That attack happened about half a mile away from the council office, they said.

Four awakening council members and two policemen are among the wounded, police said.

LONDON, England (CNN) — A former archbishop of Canterbury called Saturday for the release of five British hostages Iraq, appealing to their captors as “men of faith.”

“May I appeal to you as honorable people to release these men who have been away from their families for over one year,” said Archbishop George Carey, in a video statement released through The Times of London newspaper. “I appeal to you as good people to release these men who long to be back home once more.”

The five Britons were kidnapped last May along with two Iraqis from an Iraqi Finance Ministry building in Baghdad. The only identified captive is Peter Moore, who said his name in a video released in February and pleaded with the British government to negotiate for the hostages’ release.

At the time of his capture, Moore was working as a computer consultant for Virginia-based BearingPoint. The company said the other four Britons were contractors working for the firm; The Times identified them further as security guards.

BEICHUAN, China (CNN) — Fears that a wall of water from the bursting of two natural lakes created by the China earthquake triggered the evacuation of rescuers, journalists and quake survivors down river Saturday afternoon, Chinese officials said.

Landslides caused by Monday’s quake blocked the Qingzhu River in Beichuan county, creating the two lakes with fast-rising water levels, an official at the Guanzhuang disaster relief center said.

Officials, worried that one or both of the lakes could burst, forced the evacuation of 10 villages and townships downriver, he said. About 30,000 people live downstream, not including the many rescuers and others who were in the area because of the quake relief effort, he said.

Journalist Diego Laje, one of those ordered to evacuate, said a stampede of thousands of people began as military officers warned them to leave a low-lying area near the river.

Chinese government experts were considering blasting holes to allow controlled releases of the water, which was quickly rising, the official said.

BEIJING, China (CNN) — The official death toll in the China earthquake has risen to 28,881 people, according to China Daily, China’s state-run newspaper.

The new toll was announced by central government officials at a news conference in Beijing Saturday.

The officials said the confirmed number of people injured was 198,347.

LONDON, England (CNN) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth planned to attend the wedding of her oldest grandchild Saturday at Windsor Castle. Peter Phillips, 30, plans to marry Autumn Kelly of Canada in a private ceremony at St. Georges Chapel in the afternoon, Buckingham Palace said.

Phillips is the son of Princess Anne, the queen’s only daughter. He and his younger sister Zara Phillips have no royal titles and perform no royal duties. Peter and Zara Phillips are the cousins of Princes William and Harry, the second and third in line to the throne respectively.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizudin has been freed three months after he was abducted in the Pakistan’s tribal region while traveling to the Afghan capital of Kabul, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said. No other details were available about Azizudin’s release.

He was last seen a month ago when video was released of him pleading for the Pakistan government to negotiate for his release. His kidnapping apparently happened somewhere along the Kabul-Turkham highway, the only route between Kabul and the Pakistan city of Peshawar, officials said.

Afghan security sources at the time said Azizudin’s kidnapping may be a reprisal for the capture earlier in the day of Mansoor Dadullah. Dadullah is the brother of slain Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah, who was killed last May in a military operation in southern Afghanistan.

BEIJING, China (CNN) — A German tourist was pulled out alive from under rubble in Taoguan village Saturday, 114 hours after being buried by an earthquake that was centered near the village, , China’s official news agency Xinhua reported.

Xinhua said it was trying to determine the German man’s identity. A German Foreign Ministry official told CNN their government has no information about the man or the rescue.

The report said more than 20 Chinese soldiers helped rescue the tourist Saturday morning. The tourist was rushed to the medical center at the Wenchuan disaster relief headquarters, but his condition was not immediately clear, Xinhua reported.

At least 12,300 people remain buried in the debris from the China earthquake that killed at least 22,007 others, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States will send two plane-loads of aid to China this weekend to help Chinese earthquake victims.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said two US Air Force C-17’s will take the supplies, including tents and generators. The U.S. offer of assistance is open-ended and the flights could be followed by others, he told reporters at his regular midday briefing.

Earlier, the United States pledged $500,000 to help China in its quake relief efforts and that money has been delivered by the U.S. Red Cross.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNN) — With more than 10 percent of the polling stations reporting their results late Friday, President Leonel Fernandez was leading the Dominican Republic’s presidential election with more than 53 percent, an elections official said.

In second place was Dominican Revolutionary Party leader Miguel Vargas Maldonado, with 41.2 percent, followed by Amable Aristy Castro of the Social Christian Reformist Party, with 4.6 percent.

Fernandez, who is seeking his third term as president, needs a majority to avoid a runoff.

WATERTOWN, South Dakota (CNN) — Barack Obama linked John McCain Friday with what he called “the failed policies” of the Bush administration, accusing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the White House of “bombast, exaggerations and fear-mongering” in place of “strategy and analysis and smart policy.”

“What we’ve done over the last eight years does not work,” the Democratic frontrunner told reporters.

The “track record of George Bush supported by John McCain” includes the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a longer and more expensive war in Iraq than was initially projected, the continued freedom of Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and the strengthening of Iran after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, he said.

“The American people are going to look at the evidence,” he said. “We don’t get a sense that this has been a wise foreign policy or a smart foreign policy or a tough foreign policy. This has been a policy that oftentimes revolved around a lot of bluster and big talk, but very little performance, and what the American people want right now is performance.”