(Channel News Asia) DILI: Former guerrilla and army chief Taur Matan Ruak has won Timor Leste's presidential election, according to a court statement.
SYDNEY: Two Aboriginal teenagers aged 14 and 18 were shot by police in central Sydney on Saturday after mounting a crowded footpath in a stolen car and hitting a bystander as officers gave chase.
(Channel News Asia) BANGKOK: Myanmar is likely to shake off tough EU sanctions this month, analysts said, after a dramatic change of policy from Britain and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the wake of sweeping reforms.
(AFP) - HAVANA: Cuba and Vietnam pledged Friday to strengthen political ties after visiting Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met with Cuban President Raul Castro and brother Fidel Castro.
(Channel News Asia) UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council ordered an emergency meeting for Friday to condemn North Korea's failed rocket launch, but is unlikely to order immediate new sanctions against the isolated state.
(Channel News Asia) BEIJING: China has closed 42 websites and deleted more than 210,000 online posts since mid-March in a crackdown on "Internet-based rumours", state media said on Thursday.
(AFP) KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday hailed an agreement with the United States over controversial night raids by special forces as consolidating Afghan sovereignty.
(AFP) KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will lift a decades-old ban on university students joining political parties.
(AFP) - SYDNEY: A 6.2-magnitude quake struck off Papua New Guinea early Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
(Channel News Asia) NATADOLA, Fiji: Flood-ravaged Fiji declared a state of emergency Sunday and warned tourists to stay away for the time being, as heavy rain and high winds continued to pound the South Pacific nation.
(Channel News Asia) HANOI: Vietnam may have contained the fatal bird flu outbreak that raged in the late 2000s but it is still struggling with new cases of the disease that have puzzled experts in the communist country.
(Channel News Asia) SEOUL: North Korea held a national memorial service Sunday on the 100th day since the death of leader Kim Jong-Il, with the whole country "wrapped in an atmosphere of mourning", state media said.
JAKARTA: Thousands of Indonesians protested across the country Wednesday against a proposed fuel hike, with violence which broke out in one city injuring a policeman, police said.
(AFP) SEOUL: South Korea accused North Korea on Monday of trying to develop a nuclear-armed missile through a satellite launch next month, after Pyongyang dismissed international calls to abandon the exercise.
(Channel News Asia) YANGON: Myanmar has signed an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015, state media reported on Saturday.
(Channel News Asia) BEIJING: Chinese police rescued more than 24,000 abducted children and women last year, some of whom had been sold for adoption or forced into prostitution as far away as Angola, according to officials.
(Channel News Asia) SYDNEY: Australian floods have inundated close to 2,000 homes in New South Wales, an official said Saturday, as the surging waters appeared to claim the life of a man in the state's north.
(AFP) - BEIJING: Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed the need to maintain stability in Tibet as he met legislators from the restive region, following a spate of self-immolations in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
(Channel News Asia) HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government on Thursday began releasing hourly readings of the smallest, most dangerous pollution particles, as it bowed to public pressure for greater transparency about air quality.
NEW DELHI (Channel News Asia)- Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, vowed Wednesday to "correct the mistakes" that led to a mid-term drubbing in local polls and defended embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
(AFP) North Korean defectors warned Monday that some 30 refugees in China risked severe retribution if they return, as they joined US lawmakers in urging Beijing to halt plans for repatriation.
(AFP) - WUKAN, China: Residents of a seaside village in one-party China are going to the polls Saturday in an unprecedented leadership election they hope will end alleged graft and revive their fortunes.
KUALA LUMPUR (Channel News Asia) : Predominantly Muslim Malaysia on Wednesday banned the sale of a children's sex education book written by a British author, saying its contents "could threaten moral values".
(Channel News Asia) WELLINGTON: A group of mostly Maori protesters forced New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to retreat from a national day ceremony amid rising objections to the planned sale of state assets.
SHANGHAI: China has detained seven company executives after suspected industrial waste discharges polluted a river with toxic cadmium, threatening drinking supplies for millions, state media said Tuesday.
(Channel News Asia) CHENGDU, China: Sitting in a teahouse in Chengdu's Tibetan quarter, a nervous young monk spoke of how police arrests of innocent people were adding to the climate of fear in China's Tibetan-inhabited regions.
(Channel News Asia) WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed democratic reforms in Myanmar as offering "new hope" as he recommitted the United States to a lasting presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
SEOUL: South Korea's economy has widened its gap with North Korea, with gross national income (GNI) about 40 times bigger than its communist neighbour, according to official figures.
(AFP) ABU DHABI: China's prime minister vowed on Monday to keep promoting peace in energy-rich Middle East and North Africa through the United Nations, at a time of high tension between the West and major oil producer Iran.
(Channel News Asia) HONG KONG: Beijing's decision to come clean on its dirty air has embarrassed Hong Kong, where smog kills hundreds of people a year, hurts business and drives away talent, a think-tank has said.
(Channel News Asia) TAIPEI: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's re-election is a relief for China and the US, but observers say he could face a tough second term, forced to balance demands from Beijing with fears he is selling out.
(Channel News Asia) NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar has released more than 300 people deemed by the opposition to be political prisoners, a minister said Saturday, after the West hailed the move as a substantial sign of reform.
(Channel News Asia) NEW DELHI: More than two-thirds of Indian milk is contaminated with substances ranging from salt to detergent and may not be safe to drink, according to a survey by an Indian government watchdog.
(Channel News Asia) TAIPEI: Taiwan's 13 million voters will decide on a new leader this weekend. And, for the first time, a woman is vying for the presidential seat.
(Channel News Asia) BEIJING: The world's largest annual migration of people begins in China on Sunday with millions of travellers boarding public transport to journey across the vast country for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
(Channel News Asia) KABUL: The Afghan government, angry at being sidelined over peace talks, flexed its muscles on Thursday by ordering the takeover of a US military prison and parading British detainees at a news conference.
(Channel News Asia) CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines: Flood evacuees and pupils competed for space in southern Philippine schools Wednesday, with both wanting to use the buildings following the Christmas break, officials said.
(Channel News Asia) Nearly three years of living under martial law in Fiji will end this weekend when the emergency regulations will be lifted, military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama announced Monday.
JAKARTA (AFP): A 5.3-magnitude earthquake rattled the northern tip of Indonesia on Monday, geologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
(AFP) - NEW DELHI: India's government and ruling Congress party failed to pass its proposed flagship anti-corruption law on Thursday as the legislation stalled in the upper house of parliament amid fierce opposition.
(AFP) - NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar may free more political prisoners on the upcoming national holidays of January 4 and February 12, an official from the lower house of parliament said Thursday.
(Channel News Asia) CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines: Tens of thousands of flash flood survivors in the Philippines face life in tent cities for months while safe areas to resettle them are sought, top relief officials said Monday.
BEIJING (Channel News Asia): Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday held talks with China's leaders during a visit to Beijing dominated by concerns over nuclear-armed North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il.
SHANGHAI (Channel News Asia): Shanghai will require microblog users to register under their real names from Monday, state media said, the latest local government in China to implement the rule after a spate of violent protests.
SYDNEY (Channel News Asia): Australian health authorities have said a patient diagnosed with HIV likely caught the virus while having a tattoo done on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
WELLINGTON (AFP): Aftershocks continued to rattle the earthquake-shattered New Zealand city of Christchurch Saturday overshadowing Christmas preparations for weary residents in a "hellish year".
HANOI: A fire ripped through a high-rise office building in Hanoi on Thursday, sending a huge cloud of black smoke billowing out over the Vietnamese capital.
(Channel News Asia) Myanmar authorities on Tuesday gave the green light to Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition to rejoin mainstream politics, setting the scene for the Nobel laureate to run for a seat in the new parliament.
(Channel News Asia) NEW DELHI: Indian anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, whose campaign in August attracted massive public support, held a one-day fast on Sunday demanding the government do more to crack down on crooked officials.
(AFP) - BONN: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan, which is boycotting Monday's international conference on Afghanistan, of undermining all negotiations with the Taliban.