REFORM NEEDED: The Southeast Asian nation's military government has been strongly criticized at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur for their lack of democratic reforms
Southeast Asian ministers yesterday admonished Myanmar for its lack of democratic reforms, saying that if the military-run nation wanted the region's support it would have to show more progress.

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Severe floods that washed away homes, bridges and lives have compensated hapless villagers in southern Thailand with a treasure -- gold.

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China's environmental watchdog has ordered emergency inspections of riverside chemical plants and other potential polluters following a toxic spill last month that disrupted water supplies to millions and strained relations with Moscow, state media said yesterday.

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A nearly US$11 million shortfall continues to hamper efforts to get a long-delayed genocide trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders under way, tribunal administrators said yesterday.

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DEEPLY OPPRESSIVE: The US envoy did little to endear himself to the secretive Stalinist state by criticizing its human-rights record and calling for global help
The US envoy for human rights in North Korea argued yesterday that the lack of basic liberties in the communist nation was an international issue and called on the world to press Pyongyang to reform.

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LATEST DEATH: A five-year-old boy became the second victim of the virus in two months, while a US report noted the damage a pandemic could do to the economy
A five-year-old boy became Thailand's second bird flu fatality in two months, while Vietnam announced two new outbreaks and China its fifth human case amid concern that infection rates could soar this winter.

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Two days of discussions between the US and China indicated the pair have common ground on contentious issues but they sometimes will use differing policies to reach mutual goals.

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ECO VILLAIN: The US is again proving to be the spanner in the works as a group of diplomats propose making long-term cuts in greenhouse gases beyond 2012
Negotiations on charting the next steps on combatting climate change were going down to the wire yesterday, with the US cast once more in the villain's role.

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Nigerian soldiers and police evicted thousands from a residential area of the capital as part of a plan to avoid the city disintegrating into the chaotic situation of Lagos and other Nigerian cities, residents and officials said.

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US officials on Thursday defended the deadly shooting of a threatening air passenger as necessary to protect the flying public and the White House said an investigation will determine whether there were lessons to be learned from the incident.

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The Muslim Brotherhood's success in Egypt's parliamentary elections, which came to a turbulent end on Thursday, will reverberate around the Arab world. The region traditionally looks to Cairo for a lead. And potentially incompatible demands for strengthened civil societies and the integration of Islamists into mainstream politics are this year's hot topic.

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Fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina, one of the three most wanted war crimes suspects from former Yugoslavia, was awaiting transfer to The Hague yesterday after his arrest in Tenerife.

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INADMISSIBLE: Human-rights groups applauded the high court's ruling, which many see as directed against charges that the US routinely practices `rendition'
Britain's highest court thrust itself into the middle of a roiling international debate on Thursday, declaring that evidence obtained through torture -- no matter by whom -- was not admissible in British courts.

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The leaders of more than 50 Islamic nations at a summit in Mecca called by Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Abdullah, adopted an ambitious plan to combat extremism and poverty throughout the Muslim world on Thursday.

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The US-led war in Iraq accelerated the spread of terrorism around the globe and reports of US mistreatment of terror prisoners are troubling its allies, the new Saudi ambassador to Washington said.

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British former detainees at the US military base Guantanamo Bay appealed on Thursday for the release of four Western peace campaigners held hostage and facing execution in Iraq.

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■ New Zealand
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