Pakistan's parliament on Saturday elected Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain ex-PM Benazir Bhutto, as Pakistan's president. Hours earlier, a blast in the city of Peshawar left at least 30 dead and around 70 injured, local police said.

Two weeks after the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing is ready to host the 13th Paralympic Games on Saturday. More than 4,000 disabled athletes from nearly 150 countries are set to participate.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksyan pledged to work on reconciling their two countries before watching a football World Cup qualifier together in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Two Taliban subcommanders involved in the August 18 attack that killed 10 French soldiers were among a group of insurgents killed in a coalition attack in Afghanistan August 30, according to a statement by the US-led coalition forces.

Rescue services are still hoping to help the thousands of survivors left destitute after floods hit the already impoverished state of Bihar, in India.

With protesters clamouring for his resignation, Thai PM Samak Sundarvej proposed holding a public referendum to decide his fate. However, sorting out the legalities of the vote will take weeks, said a government spokesman.

Pakistani police were investigating a failed assassination attempt Wednesday on the motorcade of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Gilani was not in his motorcade when it was attacked.

In the face of growing protests by poor local farmers, Tata officially stopped work at its Nano plant. The firm said it was considering finding another production site for the world's cheapest car, whose launch was originally scheduled for October.

At least fifteen people, including civilians, were killed in northwest Pakistan during a US military raid carried out from Afghanistan, local officials said Wednesday. NATO declared they were not immediately aware of such an operation.

At least 100 people have died since the monsoon-swollen Kosi River breached its banks two weeks ago on India's border with Nepal. More than 400,000 people have been evacuated.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency Tuesday in the capital Bangkok after clashes between opposition and government supporters. The violence killed at least one person and injured 44 others.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi laid flowers at a Japanese memorial to atomic bombing victims. Pelosi is the highest-ranking sitting US official to pay respects at the site in Hiroshima, the first city to witness the world's first nuclear attack.

Taro Asao, the ruling party's secretary general and former foreign minister, said he was "qualified" to take over from Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who stepped down Monday in the face of an increasingly aggressive parliamentary opposition.

Long known as "Mr. 10%" due to his past corruption scandals, the controversial Pakistan People’s Party leader and widower of the late Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, is poised to win this weekend’s presidential election in Pakistan.

Three children were killed by coalition fire in Afghanistan on Monday, leading to protests against the presence of NATO forces in the country. French Prime Minister François Fillon said he expects the conflict to last a long time.

Philippines officials say at least four people were killed and 19 more injured on Monday following a bomb explosion in a bus terminal in the southern city of Digos. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tame Iti, the Maori who terrorises the Kiwis

Chinese authorities announced Olympic efforts against pollution had given Beijing the best air in 10 years. Main pollutants were down 50 percent from normal levels during the Beijing Olympics, according to official Chinese figures.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul landed in Armenia on Saturday, ostensibly to watch a football match between the two countries. However, Gul's visit, the first by a Turkish head of state to ex-Soviet Armenia, was met by hundreds of protesters.