BEIJING, May 12 (UPI) -- The death toll rose to more than 7,600 Monday in the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province, disaster relief officials said.

Xinhua and the Shanghai Daily quoted relief officials as saying 7,651 people died in the quake that struck at 2:28 p.m., local time, and was felt as far away as Pakistan. Tremors were felt in other parts of China, as well Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok.

Local Chinese officials said 10,000 were injured.

"This is a very dangerous earthquake," Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told CNN.

Officials said about 80 percent of the buildings collapsed in the Beichuan area. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs reported up to 900 students may have been trapped when a high school collapsed.

Communication with China's Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center has been cut off, State Forestry Administration officials said. About 130 giant pandas are living in the center and another 150 wild pandas roam the Wolong reserve.

Venues for the 2008 Summer Olympics weren't damaged, Xinhua reported.

Presgrave said the quake's damage potential was great because of its strength, nearness to population centers and shallow epicenter.

Six more earthquakes, measuring in magnitude between 4 and 6, occurred in nearby areas over the next several hours, USGS reported.

More than 10,000 people died in the area in 1933 when a quake struck that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. The country's worst earthquake, on July 28, 1976, in Hebei province, killed more than 240,000.

Report: Ron Paul to lead convention mutiny

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- Maverick Republican Rep.Ron Paul is said to be working quietly on making the party's national convention less than smooth for presumptive nominee John McCain.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its political blog Monday that "an embarrassing public revolt" is in the works by the Texas congressman's camp and its allies, who don't see McCain as being conservative enough.

"They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot," the Times said.

The Times noted that even after Arizona senator had the nomination locked up, sizable numbers of Republicans were casting primary votes for Paul and conservatives Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney who had long ago dropped out of the race.

A lingering question is whether those voters will pitch in with McCain in November or continue to withhold support in protest and rally around Paul.

Group says Zimbabwean election violence up

HARARE, Zimbabwe, May 12 (UPI) -- More than 900 people have been treated for injuries and at least 22 died from violence arising after Zimbabwe's elections, a relief organization said.

Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said the attacks began after the first round of presidential elections March 29 in which opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, but not by enough to win outright and forcing a runoff, The Times of London reported Friday.

The humanitarian group said it has seen "a dramatic escalation" of violence during the past two weeks and has confirmed 22 deaths.

The organization said "violence is now on such a scale that it is impossible to document all cases," rendering the 900 figure a low estimate.

Of the 22 confirmed deaths, the organization said "at least double that have been reported but are yet to be confirmed," the British newspaper reported.

The Zimbabwe Election Commission made the results official last week. A runoff between Mugabe and Tsvangirai is supposed to be scheduled within 21 days of the official results but one election official said the runoff could be delayed up to a year.

'Female Schindler' dies in Poland

WARSAW, Poland, May 12 (UPI) -- Irene Sendler, who saved thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II, has died in her native Poland at the age of 98.

Known to many as the "female Schindler," she donned a Star of David armband and smuggled children and babies out of the Warsaw ghetto, The Telegraph (Britain) reported Monday.

Sendler was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and condemned to death for her activities.

She was saved by members of a secret organization that managed to bribe a prison guard so she could escape.

Last year Poland's parliament officially honored Sendler as a national heroine in ceremonies that featured many of the children she rescued.

Though too frail to attend, Sendler sent a letter to the gathering.

"Every child saved with my help is justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory," the letter read. "Over a half-century has passed since the Holocaust, but its specter still hangs over the world."