DEJA VU: Inspired by the events in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolian activists called for new elections and blamed corruption for the nation's economic woes
Activists who recently protested outside Mongolia's parliament accusing lawmakers of corruption are demanding the government call new elections.

[ FULL STORY ]

Acting Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), considered a strong candidate to become the territory's next chief executive, briefed a Chinese official and paid his respects to a Catholic saint during his first trip to China since taking office, a spokesman said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

KYRGYZSTAN: The old guard ended its resistance to newly-elected leaders in a move that could ease the social chaos that has gripped the ex-Soviet republic
Lawmakers yesterday ended a damaging battle for legitimacy between rival parliaments, boosting prospects for political stability in Kyrgyzstan after last week's ouster of longtime leader Askar Akayev.

[ FULL STORY ]

FUSSY EATERS: Scores of pandas in China may starve to death as bamboo, the only thing they will eat, begins to flower and becomes unpalatable for them
Hundreds of giant pandas in western China could die from starvation because the bamboo plants they eat have begun to flower and die back, it was revealed Monday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Hundreds of Nepalese journalists defied a government ban on rallies and marched through the capital yesterday demanding the restoration of press freedom, which was suspended last month when the king seized power.

[ FULL STORY ]

An old Japanese jail in the Northern Mariana Islands is to be excavated in an effort to end decades of speculation about the disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart, officials here said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

THREATS: Hardliners responded to the Israeli parliament's decision by vowing to bring 100,000 protesters to the settlements slated for evacuation to prevent the withdrawal
Israel's parliament easily voted down a bill on Monday calling for a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan, rejecting the last-ditch attempt to torpedo the plan and sparking settler threats of civil war.

[ FULL STORY ]

CAR BOMB: The attack came as Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers wrangled over a list of around 20 Sunni Arab candidates for the parliamentary speakership
At least 18 people were wounded yesterday by a car bomb targeting a Kurdish official in the divided northern oil city of Kirkuk as Iraq's new parliament was set to elect a speaker amid tight security.

[ FULL STORY ]

DREDGING UP GHOSTS: More than 80 years after the sinking of the `Titanic,' Rita Duffy hopes to counter the impact the tragedy had on the shipbuilding city's psyche
When the Titanic hit the iceberg on an April evening in 1912, the fortunes of the city in which it was built began to sink with it.

[ FULL STORY ]

Syria's troop presence in Lebanon reached its lowest level in three decades as 2,000 more soldiers returned home in recent days, the Lebanese military said on Monday. The move puts Damascus on track to have all its forces out before Lebanese parliamentary elections in May -- a key US and UN demand.

[ FULL STORY ]

Two people were injured by centipedes, and no fewer than 22 suffered mishaps involving nightwear. The UK is a perilous place in all sorts of unusual ways, according to new statistics on hospital admissions.

[ FULL STORY ]

For those seeking tranquility at Glastonbury, a dance tent packed with clubbers is not an obvious sanctuary.

[ FULL STORY ]

PROTECTING SECRETS: The Bush administration is changing its strategy in order to make a greater effort to guard trade information, technology from foreigners
US President George W. Bush has approved a new strategy to combat foreign spies or extremists attempting to steal US secrets and influence US policy, officials said on Monday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Seal hunters were set to return to the ice floes off Canada's East Coast yesterday, with animal welfare activists vowing to vigorously protest the annual event that helps support the fishermen and some of the country's poorest communities along its coastlines.

[ FULL STORY ]

OIL-FOR-FOOD: Officials who have already seen the report say the UN boss is criticized for not acting to stop a possible conflict of interest, while his son is accused of deception
Investigators probing the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq will criticize UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his son and the Swiss company that employed him, but will not accuse the UN chief of corruption, officials said.

[ FULL STORY ]

The teenage son of the tribal chairman has been arrested in connection with last week's shootings on a Minnesota Indian reservation, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ Vietnam
Three people electrocuted
[ FULL STORY ]