A driver for a Pakistani TV reporter has been reported killed when police fired to disperse protesters against an anti-Islam film who were torching a cinema in the north-west city of Peshawar.

Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met Thailand’s prime minister in her first ever audience with a head of government from the region, her political party said.

SECURITY experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organisations, including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia spread to a third temple today as they exchanged artillery fire in border clashes that have turned 50,000 villagers into refugees.

HSBC Corporate Banking Ireland has completed its first cross-border Chinese renminbi (RMB) trade transaction this week, becoming the first bank to announce such a transaction in Ireland.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday told Burma’s junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an unusual face-to-face interaction with a top leader of the ruling military.

US president Barack Obama has told Burma’s junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, a US official said today.

BURMESE democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is set to appeal against her conviction, lawyers has said, as the ruling junta faced a global wave of anger over her extended house arrest.

BURMESE pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will testify today at her trial for violating the terms of her house arrest.

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will testify tomorrow at her trial for violating the terms of her house arrest.

Burma's military regime suddenly opened pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's trial to the press today and allowed diplomats to meet her, in the face of worldwide outrage regarding the handling of her case.

Hundreds of armed police kept supporters away from the second day of Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s closed-door trial today.

Burma’s military rulers have released the personal doctor of jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who goes on trial tomorrow for allegedly violating terms of her house arrest.

Burma’s military government faced worldwide criticism today for bringing new charges against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with rights groups urging the junta’s neighbours to intervene urgently.

Mexico is temporarily suspending all non-essential activity of the federal government as the number of confirmed swine flu cases jumped.

Thailand today declared a state of emergency in Pattaya, the city hosting a summit of Asian leaders, and cancelled the event for security reasons after more than 1,000 anti-government protesters stormed the venue.

A leader of anti-government protesters in Thailand today agreed that demonstrators will leave the venue of a weekend summit of Asian leaders, easing concerns that the meeting might have to be canceled.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters converged on the venue of an Asian summit today, threatening to disrupt the annual meeting unless Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resigns.

Thailand said today it would call in army reinforcements if necessary to assure the safety of 15 Asian heads of state in the face of mass street protests demanding the resignation of the government.t

The Thai prime minister entered his office unhindered today, easing fears of confrontation after 20,000 anti-government protesters surrounded the building the day before demanding that parliament be dissolved and new elections held.

Several thousand protesters allied with exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra marched toward Thailand’s seat of government today, demanding a dissolution of Parliament and the holding of snap elections.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the main party in the ruling coalition and banned the prime minister and 36 party executives from politics for five years.

A low-fare airline today launched London-Kuala Lumpur services starting at £99 (€116) one-way.

Malaysia is considering a mediation role in the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that has killed two soldiers and led to fears of outright war.

BURMA needs at least €630 million ($1 billion) over the next three years to put the survivors of Cyclone Nargis back on their feet, a UN-led report said yesterday in the first comprehensive assessment of damage caused by the disaster that killed more than 84,000 people.

A senior figure in Burma's military junta has suggested that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be freed from house arrest in about six months, Singapore's foreign minister said.

More than 45 countries and regional organisations have signed up to attend a donors conference in Burma tomorrow to mobilise funds for immediate humanitarian assistance for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

A deal may be in the pipeline to allow a US flotilla – and French and British ships in the same situation – to finally join in the relief effort after the devastating Cyclone Nargis.

A United Nations envoy remained tight-lipped today about his meetings with Burma’s junta chief and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in a highly-watched mission that followed the regime’s deadly crackdown on democracy protesters.

A UN envoy is hoping to meet Burma's top two military leaders today to persuade them to ease a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Ireland should boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing if China doesn’t use its influence on the political crisis in Burma, Trocaire said today.

The international community appealed to Burma’s military leaders today not to crack down on the tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators taking to its streets.

GROUPS around the world yesterday marked the 62nd birthday of Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi by calling for her release.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after conferring with her aides, said today she will return to the Middle East to work with others on trying to bring an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, but did not say when she would travel.

Hundreds of anti-US protesters today broke through a protective police cordon and marched to the entrance of a convention centre in Kuala Lumpur where US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting with other foreign ministers.

Asia’s key annual security meeting opens this week amid the backdrop of North Korea’s nuclear threat and increasing regional frustration over Myanmar’s failure to restore democracy.

A toxic slick from a Chinese plant explosion has picked up speed toward Russia and is due to cross the border in about three days, Alexander Gavrilov, the head of the Russian Far East Meteorological Service, said today.

Southeast Asian nations pressed Myanmar’s (Burma’s) generals to get serious about democracy as they opened a summit today aiming for broader Asian integration – an uphill task as shown by a feud raging between China and Japan.

Australia was set today to sign a friendship treaty with southeast Asia, formally acknowledging that its economic future is tied to the region after holding back on joining the accord for more than a decade.

Southeast Asian agriculture ministers have agreed to launch a three-year plan next year aimed at stamping out the menace of bird flu in the region – a move they hope will win enough international aid to halt the disease before it becomes a catastrophic global epidemic with the potential to kill millions.

Poverty, profits and old farming traditions combined to spark massive Indonesian fires that have choked parts of Malaysia, in what officials describe as Southeast Asia’s worst ecological crisis in years.

Military-ruled Burma agreed today to forgo its scheduled chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year to avoid a damaging Western boycott of the group’s meetings, diplomats said.

The Indonesian government said today it would start withdrawing troops from Aceh in September as part of an agreement with rebels to end three decades of fighting that has killed 15,000 people.

Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations launched historic talks today on a free trade deal linking the regions.