Asia News

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

China has no plans to raise its proposal for a new global currency to replace the dollar at the G8 meeting this week but is willing to discuss it, a top Chinese diplomat said, as President Hu Jintao left Sunday for Italy.

A roadside bomb and a rocket-propelled grenade in southern Afghanistan killed two British soldiers, while gunmen in the east abducted 16 mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations, officials said Sunday.

In this photo distributed by the Xinhua news agency, local residents transfer to safe places on a handmade raft in the flood in Liuzhou, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Saturday July 4, 2009.

The soldier who was photographed fighting the Taliban in his boxer shorts says he's glad to be back home in Texas after his yearlong deployment to Afghanistan - especially on the Fourth of July.

Indonesia reported 12 new cases of people positively infected by A-H1N1 flu, putting the total cases to 20, two of them were infected in Jakarta, indicating human transmission had occurred in the country, the Health Ministry announced here Saturday, Xinhua reported.

A Royal decree was issued today naming HRH Prince Hussein Ben Abdullah as Crown Prince as of Thursday July 2, 2009, the Jordan News Agency Petra reported

A U.S. drone has fired three missiles into northwestern Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area on the Afghan border, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens others on Friday, local TV channel reported.

Missiles fired from suspected U.S. drone kill eleven people in northwestern Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Friday, local TV channel reported.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein stayed in Baghdad until he saw "the city was about to fall." Months later, he was caught hiding at the same farm where he had fled in 1959 after taking part in an attempt to kill the country's prime minister, AP reported.1

Three missiles fired from suspected U.S. drones at northwestern Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Friday, Xinhua reported according to local TV channel.

Nepal confirmed two more cases of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 Thursday, bringing the total number of infected case to five, according to the Ministry of Health and Population, Xinhua reported.

Pakistan's military denies intentions of extending its anti-militant campaign to North Waziristan, urging people in the tribal region to cooperate with the army, reported Press TV.

The Chief Minister of India-controlled Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir), Omar Abdullah, has sought phased withdrawal of Indian paramilitary troopers from the region, according to officials of the local government Thursday,reported Xinhua.

A roadside bomb exploded in Pakistan's northwest Thursday, killing two police officers in the latest attack on the country's security forces as they try to eliminate Taliban insurgents nesting near the border with Afghanistan, reported AP.

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act, BBC reported.

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 1 /Trend News, U.Sadikhova /

The main problem facing Iraq after the withdrawal of American troops will be security, and it will be caused by economic interests of western and neighboring countries in Iraq, said Ahmed al-Tagi, head of Studies Centre of Kirkuk City.

Kazakhstan, Astana, July 1 /Trend Capital, K.Konyrova/

It is impossible to construct an oil pipeline via Iran bypassing Russia in coming years, one of oil workers at the JSC KazMunayGaz National Company believes.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso decided Wednesday to appoint upper house lawmaker Yoshimasa Hayashi as economic and fiscal policy minister, and Motoo Hayashi as chief of the National Public Safety Commission, top government spokesman said, Xinhua reported.

British Queen Elizabeth II awarded the British Academician of Arabian origin Anis Sheikh Ali, who leads the World Institute for Islamic Thought in London and is the head of a group of scientists and public figures of Muslims in the United Kingdom the Order of Commander of the British Empire, told Asharq Alawsat Arabic newspaper published in London reported.