A fifth person has died from bird flu in Thailand, the health minister said in Bangkok today.

Asia’s human death toll from bird flu rose to 14 today after it was announced that a teenage girl had died from the disease in Vietnam.

North Korea said today that it has agreed to six-way nuclear talks starting on February 25, prompting expectations the countries will discuss the communist nation’s offer to freeze its atomic programmes in exchange for concessions from Washington.

China today denied allegations by a British magazine that it was responsible for the start of the current bird-flu epidemic, saying any such suggestion was “groundless and disrespectful to science”.

China launched its first manned space mission today, sending an astronaut hurtling into orbit and becoming the third country in Earth’s history to do so - four decades after the Soviet Union and the US.

CHINA yesterday offered to host talks between the United States and North Korea over their nuclear standoff and Russia said it planned to send a top official to key capitals to help find a diplomatic solution.

A DEFIANT North Korea warned sanctions against it would “mean a war,” as thousands of people rallied yesterday in the communist capital to support the country’s military.

A life jacket and a sweet bag retrieved from the ocean has added to evidence a trawler sunk by the Japanese coast guard may have been a North Korean spy ship.

An anxious world welcomed the inauguration of Afghanistan’s interim government as a hopeful first step toward an elusive peace, with some countries backing their applause today with pledges for economic aid and renewed diplomatic ties.

Irish protesters and more than 30 other Westerners are to be expelled from China after being arrested in Tiananmen Square.

China’s Foreign Ministry today accused US President George W Bush of violating commitments to China by making a blunt warning about America’s will to defend Taiwan.

President George W Bush today ignored objections from Beijing and offered breakaway island Taiwan a wide arsenal of military equipment, including submarines, to combat a Chinese invasion threat.

China has issued a furious protest at a US State Department warning to American travellers of Chinese origin.

US and Chinese negotiators today ended two days of talks with no sign of agreement on the return of an American spy plane or Beijing’s demand for an end to surveillance flights near its coast.

China has accused US officials of making irresponsible comments about the spy plane air crash.