SEOUL - For many, this weekend’s nuclear compromise between the United States and North Korea brought a sigh of relief that a six nation diplomatic process could be salvaged.  But the deal has critics, both in the United States and Japan.  
One of the harshest critics of the nuclear compromise between North Korea and the United […]

KABUL - Two battles in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan have killed as many as 100 Taliban fighters, according to Afghan and international military officials. The NATO-led forces say the bulk of the casualties came when their aircraft bombed militants who were observed gathering for a major attack.
It is believed to be one of the […]

WASHINGTON - The United States Saturday removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for a verification plan allowing the U.S. and other parties to monitor the communist country’s nuclear disarmament.
The U.S. State Department announced details of the agreement this Saturday morning following a day of intensified discussions between the […]

HANOI - The United States and Vietnam have discussed possible U.S. sales of weapons and spare parts to Vietnam, as well as American military help with disaster relief and a range of other issues. The two nations’ first strategic dialogue on political, defense and security issues shows the continuing improvement in U.S.-Vietnamese relations. 
U.S. Assistant Secretary […]

WASHINGTON - NATO says coalition soldiers have captured a suspected senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan without firing a shot.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said Sunday that soldiers captured Mullah Sakhi Dad and another insurgent in Uruzgan province on Wednesday.

The statement says Sakhi Dad is suspected of “leading a significant number of Taliban fighters,” and coordinating […]

JAKARTA - Muslims, around the world, are marking the end of the holy fasting month, Ramadan, by celebrating Eid al-Fitr. In Indonesia - which has the world’s largest population of Muslims - the holiday’s deeper meaning centers around family, food, gifts and time-honored traditions. 
During the past week, around 26 million Indonesians have flooded airports, seaports, […]

SEOUL - North Korea has taken dramatic steps toward fulfilling its threat to resume production of nuclear weapons material.
The International Atomic Agency confirms North Korea, formerly known as the DPRK, has ended international supervision of activities at its main nuclear reprocessing facility.   
“The DPRK, asked the IAEA to remove seals and surveillance from the reprocessing […]

SEOUL - A South Korean lawmaker says the country’s intelligence service has testified that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is recovering from a stroke. North Korean officials say Kim Jong Il is just fine, and reject a proliferation of media reports that have questioned his health. No other nation depends so heavily on one […]

ISLAMABAD - The widower of Pakistan’s assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has been elected president, completing Pakistan’s return to democratic rule. Asif Ali Zardari won about 69 percent of the vote. 
In Pakistan’s parliament, supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party were jubilant even before the election commissioner announced results from the national assembly and senate.
Zardari’s […]

By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) – Pakistan government banned the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan on Monday in a bid to curb rising incidents of suicide bombings in the country.
Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of assassinated leader of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto and co-chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party had […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has announced his resignation. Since August 8, the ruling coalition government has united against the unpopular president and threatened to impeach him.
The president announced his resignation live on national television, during a midday address from the president’s house in Islamabad.  He rejected the pending impeachment charges his political opponents […]

WASHINGTON - The wife of U.S. President George Bush is preparing to visit a Burmese refugee camp and health clinic along the Thai-Burmese border.
Laura Bush and her daughter Barbara will fly Thursday from Bangkok to the Mae La refugee camp in western Thailand’s Tak province.
About 39,000 Burmese live at the camp in Mae Sot. Most […]

SEOUL - U.S. President George Bush is urging the North Korean government to agree to a strong verification of its nuclear program.  The comments came at a joint news conference in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. 
President Bush says North Korea has work to do, and obligations to meet.
“They have to show us a […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Geological Survey says a strong earthquake struck western China Tuesday, near where a devastating quake in May killed about 70,000 people.
The U.S. agency said the 6.0 magnitude quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, 50 kilometers northwest of the town of Guangyuan in Sichuan province.
There were no immediate reports of […]

BEIJING - China’s state media says suspected terrorists have attacked border police in northwest China, killing at least 16 officers, just days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics. Chinese officials have said Islamist terrorists in Xinjiang are the biggest security threat to the Summer Games.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency says the attack came early […]

SYDNEY - Locusts are threatening to inflict more pain on some of the most drought-ravaged parts of eastern Australia. Hundreds of farmers have found beds of locust eggs and officials fear that many more have not been reported. Officials have said that recent wet weather has increased the risk of devastating locust activity.  
Australia’s last major […]

NEW DELHI - India’s high-tech city of Bangalore was rocked by numerous explosions on Friday. Initial reports indicate a coordinated terrorist attack, but authorities say the blasts were of relatively small intensity. At least one person is dead and as a many as a dozen others injured.  
As many as seven blasts shook the southern […]

BEIJING - China and Russia have signed a border agreement that settles the demarcation of their 4,300-kilometer border.
In a sign of warming relations, China and Russia signed a pact Monday resolving disputes over the long border that separates the two former Communist rivals.
The agreement was initialed by visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his […]

NEW DELHI - In India, millions of trucks have gone off the roads to protest rising operating costs triggered by higher fuel prices and rising taxes. High oil prices are hurting India’s economy. 
Nearly five million trucks stopped throughout India. Truckers say the rising cost of diesel and taxes levied by the government are wiping out […]

PENTAGON - A senior U.S. Navy admiral says Vietnam is considering fresh offers he made this week for joint naval exercises. The admiral made the offers during the first ever visit to Vietnam by one of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships. 
Speaking from the USNS Mercy hospital ship off the Vietnamese coast, Vice Admiral Doug Crowder […]

SEOUL - North Korea has put on a very visual spectacle to persuade the world it is serious about ending its nuclear programs. With international cameras rolling, Pyongyang blew up a cooling tower at its main nuclear facility.  
Video images of North Korea’s carefully staged demolition were beamed around the world Friday, within hours of […]

SYDNEY - Some senior leaders of the Islamic community in Sydney are calling on the Australian government to recognize polygamous marriage on cultural grounds. Bigamy and polygamy are illegal in Australia but clerics say some Muslims circumvent the law by forming unions in religious ceremonies that are not state sanctioned. 
Several Muslim clerics say that polygamous […]

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Taliban insurgents took over several villages near Afghanistan’s second largest city, Kandahar, Monday, forcing Afghan and NATO troops to redeploy in the region.Officials say that some 500 Taliban fighters captured the villages in southern Arghandab district — just three days after a Taliban assault on Kandahar’s main prison that freed hundreds […]

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Britain is sending more troops to Afghanistan to help the country recover from years of conflict.
Mr. Brown made the announcement Monday in London at a joint news conference with U.S. President George Bush.
Mr. Bush thanked the British leader for the additional troops.
Prime Minister Brown also said Europe […]

WASHINGTON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has threatened to send troops into neighboring Pakistan, saying his country has the right to do so out of self-defense.
He said in a news conference Sunday that Afghanistan has the right to destroy terrorist hideouts across the border because militants come from Pakistan to kill Afghan and coalition troops.
The […]