ASIA AUSTRALIA

U.S. army extends curfew in South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.S. army on Wednesday extended a curfew for military personnel in South Korea by two months, a day after a court sentenced an American soldier to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a local teenage girl.

China's Wen recalls family past of persecution

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said his family was "constantly attacked" in Maoist political campaigns that convulsed the country over past decades, giving a rare glimpse into his tumultuous past as he prepares to leave office....

Lukashenko calls Russia and EU partners, seeks help

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has said Russia and the EU are his country’s major trading partners and urged the neighbors to lift sanctions and resume co-operation with Belarus as it struggles to emerge from crisis....

Moderate PM leads volatile Kyrgyzstan vote

The moderate prime minister of Kyrgyzstan on Sunday took a commanding lead in the volatile Central Asian state's first presidential poll since a revolution and deadly ethnic bloodletting last year....

Thais face drowning, disease in disastrous floods

Thais enduring the nation's worst floods in decades have faced marauding crocodiles and threat of snake bites and electrocution, but health experts say the top risks are drowning and disease....

China's one-child rule turns into a time bomb

China's one-child policy has prevented almost half a billion births but has turned into a demographic time bomb as the population ages, storing up huge economic and social problems for the country....

Japanese nurse sentenced to hanging in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian court has sentenced a Japanese nurse to death by hanging for drug trafficking....

Hong Kong mothers march against mainland babies

More than 1000 protesters, including pregnant women, marched in Hong Kong Sunday opposing the growing number of mainland Chinese women coming to the city to give birth, organisers said....

Vietnam confiscates 1 ton of elephant tusks

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese authorities say they have uncovered more than a ton of elephant tusks that smugglers were attempting to illegally take to China....

Communist Land Sales Hurting China’s Poor

Bulldozers razed Li Liguang’s farmhouse four years ago after officials in the Chinese city of Loudi told him the land was needed for a 30,000-seat stadium. ...