Asiapcf [7]

Six men of Arab descent and three Pakistanis -- suspected of ties to al Qaeda -- were rounded up after a grenade and gun battle Thursday by Karachi police and Pakistani intelligence officials, police sources said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is optimistic about a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea, and that he believed the U.S. would eventually hold talks with the North.

The United States is willing to help North Korea meet its energy needs if it gives up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but Pyongyang first must take verifiable and irreversible steps to meet international commitments, Washington says.

Indian separatists have fought army troops inside the neighboring Himalayan kingdom Bhutan, according to rebel claims.

Former British glam rock star Garry Glitter, jailed for possessing child pornography in 1999, has been barred permanently from entering Cambodia, government officials say.

Russian envoy Alexander Losyukov is optimistic a nuclear standoff can be resolved after a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.

Russian envoy Alexander Losyukov is optimistic a nuclear standoff can be resolved after a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.

Six Russians are reported to have been killed when a cargo plane crashed on the north coast of East Timor while trying to land in foggy weather.

The U.S. government Friday froze the assets of two suspected leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic terrorist group operating in Southeast Asia with ties to al Qaeda.

A senior member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group was captured in a southern Philippine city Thursday, a military spokesman said.

A senior South Korean envoy has arrived in Beijing on a mission to persuade China to get tougher with Pyongyang over its revived nuclear program.

South Korea and China have agreed to settle the North Korean nuclear crisis through negotiations, a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official said.

South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun has told CNN he plans to propose a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il soon after he takes office in an effort to end the on-going nuclear standoff.

A South Korean business group said on Monday it is planning to build one of the world's tallest buildings, 70 metres (230 ft) higher than the current world record holder, the 452-metre Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.

South Korea's President-elect Roh Moo-hyun has urged the United States to open talks with North Korea in a bid to end the nuclear standoff on the peninsula.

South Korea's president-elect said Saturday he was relieved that the United States was using diplomacy instead of possible military action to resolve its nuclear dispute with North Korea.

South Korea's armed forces are ready for any eventuality, including the worst case scenario, should nuclear tensions between the North and the United States escalate into a full-blown war, the South's defense minister has said.

South Korea is to send a presidential envoy to North Korea next week as part of efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program, officials say.

A Bush administration source said Friday that U.S. spy satellites have detected what apparently are trucks taking North Korea's stockpile of nuclear fuel rods out of storage.

South Korea is urging the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to delay an emergency meeting to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue.

Australia's capital is under a state of emergency as firefighters struggle with ferocious bushfires that have already killed one person, burned dozens of homes and forced thousands of evacuations.

An Australian man has shown that his love for his father was more than just skin deep by having his dad's tattoos removed, preserved and framed.

Hundreds of frightened Thais have fled the Cambodian capital after a night of riots in which their embassy and businesses were torched.

Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and long-time adversary the Tamil Tigers have entered a second day, with the fate of about 100,000 Tamil families resting on the outcome.

The second day of peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and long-time adversary the Tamil Tigers have concluded Tuesday, with the fate of about 100,000 Tamil families awaiting repatriation still in the balance.

The U.N.'s nuclear inspections agency will issue a statement Monday criticizing North Korea's decision to resume its nuclear program, a senior State Department official told CNN.

The United States is ready to talk to North Korea and willing to discuss possible ways of resolving the country's energy crisis once it ends nuclear weapons development, a senior U.S. envoy says.

The United States has apologized to those people injured when a U.S U-2 spy plane crashed near the South Korean capital Seoul.

The United States has joined Pakistan in denouncing India's test-firing of a medium range version of its nuclear capable Agni missile.

South Korea's President-elect Roh Moo-hyun says the United States had once contemplated the possibility of attacking North Korea over its alleged nuclear arms program.

A U.S. F-16 bombed an abandoned school where a Pakistani border guard had taken cover after exchanging fire with American soldiers, wounding one, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The United States has apologized to those people injured when a U.S U-2 spy plane crashed near the South Korean capital Seoul.

A U.S. soldier -- grazed on his head by a bullet near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- was shot by a Pakistani border guard, U.S. military officials said Tuesday.

North Korea's decision to pull out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) has been met with grave concern throughout the world, especially in Asia.