Asia News

A Zimbabwe cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off Saturday from Shanghai's main international airport, killing three crew members, a government official said.

An express train carrying hundreds of passengers from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed late Friday, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens of others, emergency officials said.

Sri Lankan elections officials said Friday that the nation would hold early presidential elections on Jan.

A key anti-Taliban tribal leader was assassinated Friday in a roadside bombing, the latest in a series of attacks against pro-government militias in the Afghan border area of northwestern Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the Taliban and other extremist groups Friday to lay down their weapons and participate in rebuilding the battered country, as part of reconciliation efforts he has said will be his main objective during his second term.

"WASHINGTON a ' The United States is scrambling to coax NATO allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as part of President Obama a TMs strategy for the region.

As daylight faded and the winter cold set in, soldiers huddled inside a crude wooden hut to tuck into Thanksgiving turkeys the unit itself had fattened and to give thanks for having survived a year of combat in Afghanistan.

"They just went to a party. They didn't do anything wrong," Paul Morrison, a Virginia attorney who has represented Michaele and Tareq Salahi in the past, told The Associated Press .

South Korean soldiers and police executed nearly 5,000 citizens during the early months of the 1950-53 Korean War, fearing they could collaborate with invading North Korean troops, a government commission said Thursday.

Wolfgang Schneiderhan quits as defence ministry accused of withholding information about civilian casualties in Nato bombing Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan in Kunduz, Afghanistan, earlier this month.

China announced plans Thursday to drastically boost its energy efficiency as part of its contribution to the fight against global warming, AP reported.

South Korea and the United States have agreed to work together to strengthen maritime safety, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Several gunmen suspected of involvement in the Philippines election-related massacre of 57 people including politicians and journalists have been arrested, Press TV reported.

A senior Indian official on Wednesday reiterated call for the United States to lift restrictions on American technology transfer to India a day after U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House, Xinhua reported.

Rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca, snarling Islam's annual hajj as millions of Muslims headed for the holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top of intense concerns about the spread of swine flu, AP reported.

A former head of MI6 has launched an attack on the Government for its financing and handling of the military campaign in Afghanistan.

Putting his prestige on the line, President Barack Obama will personally commit the U.S. to a goal of substantially cutting greenhouse gases at next month's Copenhagen climate summit, insisting America is ready to tackle global warming despite intense disagreement in Congress.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il says ties with China are "unbreakable" and has called for increased co-operation between the communist nations amid international pressure on Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved Tuesday to calm the political storm surrounding the handover of Afghan prisoners, vowing to release all "legally available" documents related to the matter.

Pakistani prosecutors charged seven men on Wednesday with planning and helping execute last year's Mumbai terror attacks, AP reported.