The US State Department's number two diplomat arrived in South Korea today amid intense diplomacy aimed at ensuring North Korea keeps its pledge for nuclear disarmament.

North Korea is not planning a second nuclear test and is willing to return to six-party talks under certain conditions but warned that it would take action if it feels pressured, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and China’s foreign minister said today their governments had agreed to try to resume stalled talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programme and called on the communist nation to show restraint.

South Korea today urged North Korea not to conduct a nuclear test, saying it would further isolate the communist regime, while countries launched new efforts to persuade the North to resume stalled disarmament talks.

China today condemned an Israeli attack in Lebanon that killed one Chinese UN observer and called for new Middle East peace efforts.

Japan today pushed ahead with its proposal for UN sanctions against North Korea for its missile tests, and China dispatched diplomats to Pyongyang amid a campaign to lure the reclusive regime back to nuclear disarmament talks.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister will visit China next week to discuss a possible weapons purchase amid a threat of a full-scale war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, a news report said today.

The chief US negotiator on North Korea met top Chinese officials today to discuss Pyongyang’s missile tests, amid stepped up efforts by the world powers to curb North’s provocative behaviour.

A North Korean envoy today demanded the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed by Japan in response to the North’s missile tests, calling the measures outrageous, Kyodo News agency reported.

Japan and the United States have agreed to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on US bases in Japan for the first time, amid concerns North Korea may test-fire a long-range ballistic missile.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern travels to Japan this week in a bid to lure golfers to Ireland in the wake of the Ryder Cup in September.

Australia and China today signed deals clearing the way for Beijing to buy Australian uranium – but only for use in its nuclear power stations.

Europe expressed renewed concern about Iran’s nuclear agenda today as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board focused on Tehran’s refusal to freeze uranium enrichment and fully cooperate with an IAEA investigation.

China’s foreign minister today called on Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to settle the dispute over its nuclear programme.

China has called on the European Union to lift a 17-year-old arms embargo imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Senior US and Chinese officials today discussed how best to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme even as China indicated a preference for diplomacy not UN sanctions against Tehran.

Britain, France and the United States expect the UN Security Council will approve a tough resolution demanding that Syria co-operate with the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Japan’s foreign minister today pledged to smooth ties with China and South Korea after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi enraged the two Asian neighbours and sparked business jitters by visiting a war shrine that critics say glorifies Japan’s militaristic past.

RUSSIA and China warned the United States and European Union yesterday against escalating the nuclear stand-off with Iran, potentially blocking a Western drive to haul Tehran before the UN Security Council.

Prime Minister Tony Blair met Chinese President Hu Jintao today at the start of a China-European Union summit focused on boosting trade and tackling global warming.

China and the US moved into a third day of high-level meetings today in talks that could help defuse brewing trade and military tensions.

China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing again refused to apologise today to Tokyo for anti-Japan protests in China last month that damaged Japanese diplomatic compounds and businesses.

China said diplomatic relations with Japan were at a three-decade low and that Tokyo – by refusing to face up to its militaristic past – was to blame.

Japan is disappointed by China’s lack of regret over anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities and its failure to explain how the rallies escalated into riots that left windows smashed at Japanese diplomatic missions, the top government spokesman said today.

CHINA told Japan bluntly yesterday that it had nothing to apologise for after weeks of anti-Japanese protests, some violent, in cities across the country.

China refused to apologise today for three weekends of violent anti-Japanese demonstrations that damaged Tokyo’s Beijing embassy and a consulate in protests over Japan’s wartime history and campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Hong Kong’s leader Tung Chee-hwa is expected to resign tomorrow according to news reports, as high-ranking Chinese officials heaped praise on him in an apparent send-off after seven rocky years in office.

Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul over the weekend to discuss resuming nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea after the communist country’s leader hinted at a possible compromise, officials said today.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today defended a UK campaign to lift a European arms embargo on China and predicted it would be overturned within six months.

China told a visiting senior US military commander today that America must stop selling weapons to Taiwan and end military exchanges with the self-ruled island, an official news report said.

China has told Britain and the US to mind their own business over its refusal to allow full democracy for Hong Kong in the near future.

After four days, a meeting of six nations discussing the dispute over North Korea’s nuclear program adjourned today with China’s foreign minister saying that “various serious differences” remained before the stand-off could be resolved.

THE World Health Organisation took its SARS probe into rural China, where the health system is a shambles, as reports emerged yesterday of more attacks on quarantine sites in the country by people scared of the disease.

NUCLEAR talks in Beijing ended yesterday after US officials said North Korea claimed to have nuclear weapons and might test, export or use them.

China’s new premier today called for “every effort” to be made to avoid war in Iraq and said the United Nations weapons inspections must continue.

China has sought US understanding for its refusal to allow a damaged US Navy spy plane to fly home.