Delegates to North Korea’s biggest political meeting in decades were gathering in the country’s capital today amid speculation that leader Kim Jong Il is to appoint one of his sons and other family members to key positions as part of a succession plan.

Rescuers in three countries across Asia struggled to reach survivors from massive flooding that afflicted millions of people, as the death toll climbed in a remote Chinese town where hundreds died and more than 1,100 were missing from landslides.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in their capital to condemn the United States and South Korea on the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, while Seoul told Pyongyang to admit responsibility for a deadly warship sinking.

South Korea’s president said his nation will no longer tolerate North Korea’s “brutality” and said the regime would pay for a surprise torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

NORTH Korea said South Korea fabricated evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating for the warship’s sinking would be answered with “all-out war”.

Anti-government protesters dug into their encampments around Bangkok and rejected talk of negotiations today after a month-long stand-off escalated into clashes that killed 20 people in Thailand’s worst political violence in nearly two decades.

US President Barack Obama’s envoy began a rare trip to North Korea today as a senior US official warned of strong sanctions unless the communist nation rejoins international nuclear talks.

A thin-looking Kim Jong Il made a rare public appearance today as North Korea paid solemn respects to his father, the country's late founder, on the 15th anniversary of his death.

State-run television gave North Koreans their first glimpse of the country’s “auspicious” rocket launch – and of an apparently healthy leader Kim Jong Il mingling with farmers and watching bears at the zoo.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in Pyongyang in a display of might and loyalty underscoring their government’s guiding “military first” principle amid tensions with rival South Korea

An Egyptian telecoms giant launched an advanced mobile phone network in North Korea today, the latest attempt to introduce a global symbol of personal freedom into one of the world’s most tightly controlled societies.

The Olympic torch held its first-ever run today in North Korea, where the flame was assured of a trip free of the anti-Chinese protests that marked other legs of the relay.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood this morning, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters, police and hospital officials said.

Iraqi soldiers manned the gates of a central Basra base today after the bulk of British tanks and troops pulled out overnight.

North Korea has told the United States it has shut down its nuclear reactor, the US State Department said today, hours after a ship cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country’s pledge to disarm.

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill ended a surprise trip to North Korea today, amid optimism that the visit heralded renewed progress in international efforts to denuclearise the communist country.

Under the cover of artillery barrages, dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armoured carriers today moved against Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

The Israeli military has suspended the commander of an operation in which troops ordered Palestinian youths in the West Bank to stand in front of their vehicle to protect it from stones thrown by locals, the army spokesman’s office said today.

Apparently seeking to calm fears that he will not go after militia gunmen loyal to one of his key political backers, Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki said 400 fighters from the Mahdi Army had been arrested over the past several weeks.

Masked men carrying Kalashnikov guns have stolen a four-month-old lion cub, named Sabrina, from the Gaza Strip’s only zoo.

THREE massive vehicle bombs exploded yesterday near Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, home to many Western journalists, killing at least 20 people.

A roadside bomb hit a convoy of vehicles today in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, causing casualties.

The Israeli army today acquitted an officer on charges he illegally used his weapon in the shooting death of a British filmmaker, despite a military court recommendation that harsh disciplinary action be taken against the soldier.

A video delivered to an international news organisation has apparently shown the release of two Indonesian journalists who were kidnapped in the volatile Iraqi city of Ramadi last week.

US forces launched a “precision attack” today against a suspected gathering of insurgents outside a house in the volatile city of Fallujah, the US military said.

A VIDEO has captured a wedding party that survivors say was later attacked by US warplanes, killing up to 45 people.

A video has captured a wedding party survivors say was later attacked by US warplanes, killing up to 45 people.

American forces have denied targeting a wedding party near Iraq’s border with Syria, in an air strike that allegedly killed more than 40 people, including children.

A US helicopter fired on a wedding party in western Iraq today, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said.

Jubilant Iraqis yanked the bodies of four American contractors from their burning jeeps yesterday, dragged the charred corpses through the streets, and hung two of them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River.

Jubilant Iraqis yanked the bodies of four foreign contractors – at least one an American – out of their burning cars today, dragged the charred corpses through the streets, and hung two of them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River.

A US official has said that one or both of Saddam Hussein’s sons may have been captured by US troops.

US troops have captured Iraqis of “ high interest” when they raided a house in the northern city of Mosul where it was believed Saddam Hussein’s two sons were hiding.

AN audio tape of Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's fugitive second in command, appears to be genuine and to have been recorded in the last few weeks, a US official said yesterday.

A British television producer was killed by shellfire in Kosovo today.