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Nepal's prime minister has suffered a major political blow as the country's independent Election Commission handed over control of the Nepali Congress party to his nemesis.

At least 40 policemen have been killed in a rebel attack on a police post in eastern Nepal, according to a government minister.

More than one thousand Maoist rebels, who are fighting to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy, attacked a police post in the east of the country and killed 49 police officers, a government minister said.

The United States has closed a string of embassies across Asia amid regional nervousness and credible and specific threats of terrorist attacks on the anniversary of September 11.

The United States has closed a string of embassies across Asia amid regional nervousness and credible and specific threats of terrorist attacks on the anniversary of September 11.

North Korea's newly announced special economic zone will allow foreigners to enter without visas as early as next week, a spokesman for the China-based entrepreneur leading the project said Saturday.

North Korea has pledged to allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said.

In a startling admission, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has ended years of denials by confirming North Korean spies kidnapped Japanese citizens decades ago and that some are still alive.

A Japanese televsion network says Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has passed on a request to U.S. President George W. Bush from North Korea asking to be dropped from Bush's axis of evil.

Thirty-six North Korean asylum seekers who had sought shelter inside diplomatic facilities in Beijing have arrived in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

A group of 15 North Korean asylum seekers who spent more than a week holed up in a German diplomatic compound in Beijing have been allowed to leave China, officials say.

After a startling admission from North Korea on the fate of a group of missing Japanese citizens, Tokyo says it will push Pyongyang for the return of four survivors.

Pakistani police have arrested seven Pakistanis -- including the alleged ringleader -- believed responsible for the May 8 car-bombing that killed 11 French engineers and three others in Karachi.

A Pakistani businessman denied Monday a report in Time magazine that implies he had a homosexual affair with John Walker Lindh, the American who joined the Taliban.

A Pakistani man shot dead his wife, four children and two other family members in the capital Islamabad early on Saturday, a police official said.

Pakistani authorities briefly arrested at least 120 members -- including 18 leaders -- of a fundamentalist political alliance for gathering at a train station in Lahore to kick off a cross-country political rally.

Hundreds of Pakistanis have rallied to denounce Islamic militancy after an execution-style killing by armed men on a Christian charity group in Karachi.

Pakistan's foreign ministry is seeking the release of almost of its nationals held in captivity by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

Pakistan will not join the United States in any military action against Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein, the country's president, General Pervez Musharraf has said.

A violent standoff between Indian security forces and militants has ended after Indian forces hit the building they were holed up in with two massive blasts.

Australian police have taken the unusual step of naming the man they suspect of abducting a German mother and daughter in an Australian national park over the weekend.

Afghan police headed off a possible terror attack over the weekend when they intercepted a fuel tanker carrying explosives in Kabul, authorities said Tuesday.

Religious groups in Sri Lanka are praying for the success of peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels.

Significant progress was made Tuesday in the first round of peace talks aimed at ending one of the world's longest-running civil wars, and more meetings are planned between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, sources told CNN.

- Ramzi Binalshibh is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Zacarias Moussaoui's federal indictment.

As investigators continue to probe the cause of Monday's deadly rail crash in northeastern India, officials have said the confirmed death toll from the disaster has now exceeded 100.

NEW DELHI, India –The search for bodies of the victims of India's deadly rail crash earlier in the week has been called off, as the confirmed death toll from the disaster mounted to 126.

Afghan authorities have detained 17 men for questioning about the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said Friday.

In the latest incident of anti-Christian violence in Pakistan, gunmen have killed seven workers at a Christian charity office in Karachi, binding the hands and mouths of some before shooting them at close range.

Heavy shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops has left one civilian dead and one injured in the Kargil sector of the disputed Kashmir region, police said.

Indonesian soldiers hunting attackers responsible for Saturday's deadly ambush in Papua province have exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen in the same area as the attack took place.

The government of Singapore says it has arrested 21 people on terrorism charges, some of whom received training at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

Singapore has become the first port in Asia to sign an agreement to screen U.S. bound containers for dangerous cargo.

Singapore, renowned for its conservative reputation, is embracing nudity -- well, at least on canvas.

Sri Lanka has lifted a ban on Tamil Tiger rebels, paving the way for crucial peace talks scheduled to begin September 16 in Thailand.

Noting that long and likely difficult negotiations lie ahead, historic peace talks between Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels have begun with the two sides meeting for the first direct talks in seven years.

Tens of thousands of people from throughout Sri Lanka gathered for a peace rally in the capital to support the government's efforts to end the country's 20-year-old civil war.

At least 19 people have been killed and as many as 20 were injured during weekend violence by suspected Islamic militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

A largely peaceful nationwide strike grips India on a day of protests and apprehension as authorities wait nervously, fearing revenge riots in the wake of Tuesday's massacre at a Hindu temple in Gujarat state.

A powerful earthquake centered off the coast of Papua New Guinea may have left at least two people dead and caused widespread damage, an official with the country's geological survey said.

An Arabic satellite station carried a statement allegedly from the vanished Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in which he vows to drive U.S. forces from Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.

Two militants suspected of killing church-goers were shot dead after sympathizers tried to free them during a failed ambush.

Kandahar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai has said he has no doubt that the gunman who tried to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai had links to the Taliban.

German diplomats in Beijing have been holding talks with officials from the Chinese foreign ministry in a bid to resolve the fate of 15 North Koreans who have taken refuge inside the German embassy compound.

Several embassies across Asia remain closed a day after the anniversary of September 11 due to continued fears of terrorist attacks.

The United States has closed its embassy in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta as well as its consulate in the eastern city of Surabaya indefinitely because of a credible terrorist threat.

Central and southern parts of Thailand are bracing for severe flooding as rivers surged beyond critical levels after heavy rainfall in most parts of the country.

The United States is closing several Asian embassies citing what it calls credible and specific terrorist threats.

India's massive rail network is hit by an average of 300 accidents a year, but despite a number of high profile crashes rail officials say safety is steadily improving with the accident rate falling to 0.57 per million km traveled in 1996/97 - down from 5.5 at the start of the 1960s.

A powerful typhoon pounded Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday, forcing almost 1,500 people to evacuate their homes and leaving at least two people missing.