Following an agreement on nuclear verification measures, Washington removed North Korea from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism. The move follows frantic negotiations between US officials and fellow members of the six-party group.

Burma's leading opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi appealed to the ruling junta to end her long-standing detention. The 63-year-old NLD leader has been confined to her home for 19 years and is often refused visits.

The founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement made an emotional homecoming Saturday after nearly 30 years in exile and a war that killed thousands of people.

Recent images of North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il inspecting a women's military unit on state television contradicts last month's reports that Kim, 66, had taken severely ill in August.

The United States and India signed a potentially lucrative agreement on Friday that would allow India to buy US civilian nuclear technology for the first time in three decades.

In a departure from its military role in Afghanistan, NATO will target opium trade there in a bid to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money from reaching Taliban-led insurgents, the alliance announced Friday.

A suicide blast killed at least 30 people at an anti-Taliban tribal meeting in a volatile Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan on Friday, according to security officials.

Japan's Yamato Life Insurance will file for bankruptcy protection, the financial watchdog said Friday, becoming the first Japanese insurer to fail amid the global credit crisis.

The French agriculture ministry has ordered an end to sales of "White Rabbit" sweets and "Koala" biscuits in France, found to contain the toxic chemical melamine at the centre of an international health scare.

In China, years of staggering growth have pushed around 100 million small investors to play about with the market. Yet, as the financial crisis kicks in, these non-professionals are left to grapple with a situation they are not trained to face.

Leaders of Thailand's recent anti-government protests turned themselves in to police Friday after being charged with inciting unrest, but were immediately released on bail.

A US military inquest has found that at least 33 civilians were killed in a US air strike on the Afghan village of Azizabad on August 22. The report says the US military was targeting militants positioned close to civilians.

A car bomb ripped through police headquarters in Islamabad wounding at least seven people while a roadside bomb hit a police prison van and a school bus, killing 10, in northwest Pakistan.

US intelligence agencies conclude in a draft report that Afghanistan is in a downward spiral and doubt whether the government in Kabul can stem the Taliban's rise, US media reported Thursday.

George W. Bush has signed legislation that will set a US-India civilian nuclear agreement in motion and end a ban forbidding atomic energy trade with India in place since 1974.

In what amounts to the worst crash in two decades, the Nikkei share index plummeted 9.4%, bringing losses for the past five days to 19%. Shares elsewhere dropped as much as 10%.

A small passenger crashed in the Everest region in Nepal, killing 18 people, according to Nepalese officials. Most of the passengers on board the Yeti Airplanes were believed to be German tourists.

Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien and Japanese citizen Osamu Shimomura on Wednesday won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the discovery of a fluorescent protein derived from a jellyfish that has become a vital tool in research.

The Thai army moved to the streets of Bangkok on Tuesday following violent clashes between opposition supporters and police forces. Rumours of yet another military coup in the country circulate amidst the people.