Asia News

WASHINGTON - In an air-conditioned room in the Chinese Embassy, a vice minister from Beijing chastises Americans for their "very limited" understanding of violent anti-government protests in Tibet.

BEIJING - Eager fans swarmed and in some cases scuffled as they lined up at sales windows Friday to get the final batch of tickets for next month's Olympics.

COLOMBO, (AFP) - Tillakaratne Dilshan completed a century as Sri Lanka posted a massive 552-6 in their first innings at lunch on the third day of the opening Test against India here on Friday.

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's financial watchdog said Friday it will resume a regulatory review of the proposed six-billion-dollar sale of Korea Exchange Bank to global giant HSBC Holdings in the coming week.

TOKYO (AFP) - Worries about the health of Japan's economy mounted Friday as inflation hit a new decade high on soaring commodity costs, casting a pall over the outlook for consumer spending.

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines government Friday ruled out a ceasefire with communist rebels waging a 39-year Maoist campaign, and pledged a robust response to escalating guerrilla attacks on businesses.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's top new diplomat to the United States said on Friday he is unaware of any U.S. freeze on arms sales to the island, despite conflicting media reports on the subject over the last two weeks.

PERTH, Australia, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - The United States and Australia on Friday urged Pakistan to do more to control militant activity in its border areas to stem the growing insurgency in Afghanistan.

MANILA, Philippines - A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage, officials and passengers said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Police say militants have blown up a girls school and 10 shops in northwestern Pakistan. There were no casualties.

SHANGHAI, China - A Chinese man accused of stabbing a Canadian model to death in her apartment building told police in a televised interview the attack began when the woman caught him trying to steal her laptop computer.

NEW DELHI - A plane taking off from New Delhi's main airport caught fire forcing all 252 passengers and crew to escape through an emergency exit, airport officials said Friday.

BEIJING - A mosque under construction collapsed in northwest China, killing eight people and injuring 23 others, state media reported Friday.

SEOUL, South Korea - A fire ripped through a boardinghouse in South Korea early Friday, killing seven people and injuring 10 others, an official said.

BEIJING - Chinese state media say 22 rescuers who helped victims of May's devastating earthquake have been chosen as torchbearers for the Olympic torch.

SRINAGAR, India - A suspected Islamic militant threw a hand grenade at a group of migrant laborers in Indian Kashmir, killing a woman and her four children Thursday in one of two attacks that claimed a total of nine lives in the disputed Himalayan region.

BEIJING - Business travel appears to be the latest victim of China's ever-tightening security crackdown before the Beijing Olympics.

KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO's secretary general said Thursday that Pakistan must be involved in international attempts to end cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, calling for a regional approach to combatting Taliban violence.

YINGXIU, China - The streets here are alive with the sounds — rumbling backhoes, roaring jackhammers, clanging pickaxes — of a town being brought back from the dead.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lankan forces battled rebel gunmen deep inside the nation's northern jungles Thursday, killing 25 guerrilla fighters and seizing new territory, the military said. Other battles killed 25 rebels and four soldiers, the military said.

YAY TWIN GONE, Myanmar - No matter how much she loved the river and sea that once provided her family's daily food, Tin Tin Latt now just wants to stay away from the water that widowed her, killed two of her children and destroyed the family's livelihood.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban have created a sophisticated media network to undermine support for the Afghan government, sending threats by text message and spreading the militia's views through songs available as ring tones, according to a report released Thursday.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A former top U.S. counter-narcotics official alleges that President Hamid Karzai is obstructing the fight against the country's burgeoning narcotics trade.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A high-altitude rescue helicopter safely plucked two stranded Italian climbers from one of the world's highest mountains on Thursday, officials said.

SINGAPORE - The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency should play a leading role in verifying North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs, according to a draft of a statement to be issued Thursday by Asia-Pacific nations.

MANILA, Philippines - A homemade bomb ripped through a commuter bus in the southern Philippines on Thursday, wounding 27 people, police said.

DONGSHA, Taiwan - Concrete pilings designed to prevent an invasion no longer dot this tiny Taiwanese islet's shoreline. A formidable marine garrison also has vanished, replaced by laid-back coast guardsmen and marine biologists.

BEIJING - Three aftershocks jolted parts of China on Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, killing one person and injuring more than 10.

SINGAPORE - Asia-Pacific powers on Thursday announced an ambitious plan to pool their military and civilian resources for disaster responses in a region beset by cyclones, earthquakes and floods.