
Asia News
AP - The South Pacific island nation of Fiji has suffered overwhelming damage from a powerful cyclone that battered its shores for more than three days, the prime minister said Wednesday as relief operations were launched in the country's northern regions.
Reuters - Members of Congress on Tuesday threatened Beijing with duties on some of its exports if it fails to revalue its currency, pressuring the Obama administration to label China a currency manipulator.
AFP - The first batch of international relief supplies arrived in cyclone-ravaged Fiji Wednesday as military leader Voreqe Bainimarama spoke of "overwhelming" damage to the Pacific island nation.
AFP - The charismatic Chicago man accused of scouting out the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege and a plot to kill a Danish cartoonist plans to plead guilty to terrorism charges, his lawyer said Tuesday.
AFP - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden will never face trial in the United States because he will not be captured alive, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers on Tuesday.
AFP - A bid to ban catches of bluefin tuna in two major fisheries ran into problems on Tuesday as European Union (EU) countries squabbled over the proposal while China was reported to be opposed to it.
AP - From the safety of a forest camp, a commander of a new Indonesian militant group looks into a camera and ridicules the notorious extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah: They are not violent enough, come and join us, he shouts, an automatic rifle in one hand.
AP - A major reorganization of allied forces in Afghanistan will centralize both American and other foreign troops under the direct command of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the senior U.S. and NATO commander in the theater.
AFP - Japan on Tuesday rescheduled 91.5 million euros (126 million dollars) in Ivory Coast's debt and urged the divided west African country to hold a long-delayed presidential election.
AP - Afghanistan's government will provide more than 1,000 police reinforcements for the southern province of Kandahar in response to Taliban attacks that killed dozens of people there ahead of a coming offensive on the insurgent stronghold, an official said Tuesday.
AP - Thai protesters seeking a change of government turned to shock tactics Tuesday, pouring gallons of their own blood into a glistening puddle at the gate of the prime minister's office.
AP - The former Sri Lankan army chief who lost his opposition bid for the presidency objected Tuesday to his court-martial hearing, saying the panel formed to decide his fate was biased against him, an ally said.
AP - An apparent U.S. missile attack destroyed a suspected militant compound in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least nine people, intelligence officials said.
AP - China showed no sign Tuesday of throwing its support behind new sanctions against Iran following talks with Britain's foreign minister, who had hoped to persuade Beijing to join a growing international consensus for more stringent measures.
AP - One of Vietnam's leading democracy activists said Tuesday that he was released from prison because he has a brain tumor and suffered three strokes while in custody.
AP - The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.
AP - China's foreign minister added to the mystery surrounding missing lawyer Gao Zhisheng on Tuesday, saying he had been sentenced on subversion charges but offering no details on his present status or whereabouts.