South Korea’s foreign minister cemented his position as favourite to succeed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan when he became the only candidate to escape a veto during an informal Security Council ballot.

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.

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.