LEADERS from countries devastated by the St Stephen's Day tsunami and major donor nations are gearing up for a major conference tomorrow to iron out problems in coordinating an unprecedented €1.5 billion global relief operation.

The bodies of some victims of the tsunamis that smashed into southern Thailand will never be found, while many others that are recovered could take months to identify, officials said today.

The main airport on Indonesia’s tsunami-battered Sumatra island reopened today after being closed for hours when a relief plane hit a herd of cows on landing.

A tsunami warning system could be built in the Indian Ocean in just a year and cost as little as €14m, a scientist said today.

The foreign ministers of Thailand and Russia met today to discuss bilateral issues including trade and the possibility of bartering Thai chickens for Russian warplanes.

Burma’s military government will free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by May 17 and invite her party to join a constitutional convention, the country’s foreign minister said today.

ASIA'S bird flu crisis deepened yesterday as Indonesia said "millions" of its chickens had died from the illness, making it the seventh nation to confirm the deadly disease.