One of Burma's most famous comedians, who goes by the name of Zarganar, was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison. Zarganar was arrested in June after organising aid deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis.

An explosion ripped through a Shiite funeral procession on Friday in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least five people and wounding some 40 others, in what appeared to be a sectarian attack from Sunni Muslims.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum opens Saturday in Lima, the Peruvian capital. With the US represented by lame-duck president Bush, Asian nations see the time as ripe to negotiate more access to Latin America's natural resources.

At least one anti-government protester was killed and more than twenty were wounded after a bomb exploded at a protest camp inside Bangkok's Government house compound, where demonstrators have been staging protests since August.

An Indian warship destroyed a Somali pirate vessel in a brief battle late on Tuesday. Other Asian nations also plan to send military ships to secure the Gulf of Aden, in an attempt to secure the area after a recent spike of pirate attacks.

A prominent international human rights group has accused the Nepali police of torturing children, some as young as 13 years, in custody and has called on the Maoist-led government to stop the practice. The police however deny the practice continues.

Tibetans-in-exile are at a crossroads in the wake of the failure of autonomy talks with ruling Chinese authorities. At an unprecedented gathering in northern India, they consider a more radical approach.

As the French wine-producing town of Beaujeu celebrated the arrival of 2008's vintage of the now famous "Beaujolais nouveau", Japanese fans welcomed the wine in their own way: by bathing in it.

Seeking to control "social, political, economic and moral damage," Iran has blocked access to over five million Web sites, including social networking sites such as Facebook and the popular video-sharing portal, YouTube.

Afghanistan will host on Wednesday a summit on Afghan refugees. With five of the eight million refugee Afghans returning after the fall of the Taliban regime, this will be the largest repatriation program ever organised.

Shu Quan-Sheng, a Chinese-born naturalized US citizen and physicist who headed a high-tech company, is facing a 10-year prison sentence for having sent secret information about the US space program to China from 2003 to 2007.

Taliban insurgents warned France in a video message on Monday that they would attack Paris unless French troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. The insurgents also claimed the ambush that killed 10 French soldiers earlier this year.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Cuba on a mission to reaffirm ties with the government of Raul Castro as part of a broader effort to boost relations with South America, seen as a potential destination for Chinese goods and investment.

Government figures show that Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has officially entered recession for the first time in seven years. Japan's Nikkei index however closed 0.7% higher on Monday.

A severe 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, killing one person and destroying homes as thousands evacuated coastal areas. The country's meteorological agency lifted an earlier tsunami warning.

In police custody pending a corruption probe, Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian was rushed to hospital days after going on a hunger strike to protest his detention, which Chen says is politically motivated.

The financial crisis, nuclear issues and geopolitics will top the agenda at the APEC summit of 21 countries in Peru next weekend. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will attend before visiting Brazil and Venezuela.

A day after troops said they had re-taken the town of Pooneryn from separatist guerrillas following months of heavy fighting, the military used helicopters and jets Sunday to strike rebel bases on the Jaffna peninsula and the mainland.

Pakistan has agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $7.6 billion emergency loan, part of a broader economic package designed to avert an economic meltdown in the nuclear-armed state.