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In the western state of Gujarat the police's image has taken a beating.

In the midst of a U.S.-led war on terrorism and the declaration that Israel is at war with terrorism, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has condemned terrorism and said all attacks against civilians must be considered acts of terrorism.

When a bomb exploded in Indonesia's riot-scarred eastern Maluku islands earlier this month, it killed six people but not the fragile peace between Muslims and Christians who recently signed an accord to stop fighting.

A 54-year-old man has been remanded in custody without plea in connection with the kidnapping of the baby of a senior New Zealand judge and his prominent lawyer wife.

U.N. officials have traveled to Afghanistan's Bamiyan province to investigate reports of three graves containing human bodies.

Counting has begun in East Timor after a reportedly massive turnout in the territory's first ever presidential election.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the Pakistani city of Lahore in a show of support for the country's President Pervez Musharraf as he kicked off his election campaign.

A militant Indonesian Muslim group blamed for fueling several sectarian conflicts in the country has entered into the predominantly Christian province of Papua.

Australia's remote Curtin detention center has been hit by more rioting and an overnight fire as hundreds of asylum seekers protest over the rejection of their claims for refugee status and their treatment and conditions in the camp.

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has reiterated his intention to hold talks with long-time foe India to ease the tense military standoff between both countries.

General Pervez Musharraf plans on remaining a key power in Pakistan regardless of the outcome on a referendum this month designed to bolster his position following parliamentary elections set for October.

A day ahead of a visit by India's prime minister to violence-racked western India, fresh religious unrest has flared up with five Muslims burned to death in Gujarat.

In its effort to present a clear definition of terrorism, the Organization of Islamic Countries has categorized Israeli attacks as state terrorism but did not put Palestinian suicide bombings in the same category.

Speculation is growing in Myanmar that the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be imminent after 18 months under de facto house arrest.

Six years of rebellion by Nepal's Maoist guerillas has cost the lives of more than 3,000 people and battered the Himalayan kingdom's already weak economy.

North Korea has decided to reopen dialogue with the United States, a South Korean envoy has said after returning from the communist North.

The 70th anniversary of North Korea's people's army has prompted leader Kim Jong-il out to make a rare public appearance.

After months of silence, the reclusive North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il has responded positively to U.S. overtures to resume talks designed to ease tensions between the two countries, senior Bush administration officials told CNN.

Pakistan is introducing daylight saving time for the first time this weekend, becoming the only country in South Asia to change its clocks for the summer.

A taxi driver has testified that he saw the murdered U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl get into a car with the man suspected of masterminding his abduction and death.

The trial against the men charged in connection with the kidnapping and killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl has been adjourned for a week after last-minute petitions were filed in court.

About a dozen U.S. military personnel are in Nepal to assess how to spend U.S. funds to fight Maoist insurgents inside that country, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

At least 23 people died after a passenger ferry with 243 people on board caught fire just 11 nautical miles from the Philippine port of Lucena.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the immediate release of two of three suspected Indonesian terrorists, charged for carrying bomb-making implements.

A Philippine court has sentenced an Indonesian linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to 10 to 12 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of explosives.

Police have arrested three more suspects in connection with a spate of deadly bombings in the Philippines and are looking into links among the country's rebel groups and the al Qaeda terror network.

Police officers have testified to having heard the alleged mastermind of the plot to murder American journalist Daniel Pearl confess to the crimes while in custody.

Pakistani police have arrested the leader of the Islamic Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, preventing a political caravan from heading to stage a protest in Rawalpindi near Islamabad, a party spokesman said.

South Korea has joined China in issuing a formal protest over Sunday's surprise visit by the Japanese prime minister to a controversial shrine commemorating his country's war dead.

Australians and New Zealanders have gathered around the world in record numbers to commemorate their war dead in annual ANZAC Day memorial services and marches.

The dismissal of the Beijing bureau chief of Hong Kong's leading English newspaper has sparked claims of censorship and restrictions of press freedom in the former British colony.

A second Australian is being held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan for allegedly training with the al Qaeda terrorist group.

An American tourist has died after being stung by a rare jellyfish while snorkeling in the waters of Australia's popular Great Barrier Reef.

Pandit Ravi Shankar is a living legend who has spent a lifetime popularizing one of India's most ancient instruments, the sitar, in the West.

The widow of a slain Indonesian judge has accused murder suspect Tommy Suharto of bribing her husband in an effort to influence the verdict on his corruption case.

Good news for those who live beneath the shadow of the world's active volcanoes. It may soon be possible to sniff them out before they erupt.

At least one gunman fired on French security officers patrolling the Kabul airport on Friday evening, slightly injuring one of them.

Captured al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah is talking, providing limited information to interrogators, according to a highly placed U.S. government source.

The Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels have reopened a strategic highway that links the northern Tamil heartland with the rest of the country.

Try calling the Suicide Prevention Services hotline in Hong Kong, and this is what you'll get: I'm sorry, we're too busy to take your call, please call back.

India's unions have warned they will step up their protests against plans to make it easier to lay off workers, one day after as many as ten million employees went on a strike that brought much of the urban part of the country to a standstill.

Japan's approval of a controversial high school textbook has stirred up an old row with neighbor South Korea just weeks before they co-host the World Cup.

The head of the U.S. forces in the Pacific this week visited American troops in the southern Philippines -- currently the single largest overseas deployment of U.S. troops since Afghanistan.

India's main opposition party, whose former chief Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger suicide bomber, has called for the rebel leader to be brought to trial in India.

Polling has ended in East Timor's first ever presidential election with voters turning out in large numbers to elect the man who will lead the country into independence.

President Jiang Zemin has given this advice to Vice-President Hu Jintao concerning the latter's forthcoming visit to the U.S: Don't be upset when you see protestors; just turn a blind eye to them.

In a rare act of leniency, Chinese authorities have advised that identical twins who were to be separated can stay in Hong Kong.

Police have arrested two men in connection with a bomb blast that killed 14 people and wounded 55 others in the southern Philippine city of General Santos.

The U.S. has stepped up its global attack on terrorism with the arrival of more than 300 additional military personnel on the southern Philippine island of Basilan.

Although China currently lacks the military capability to take and hold Taiwan, the U.S. commander for the Pacific says he is concerned about the missile balance across the Taiwan Strait.