ASIA NEWS

US soldiers killed in Afghan blasts
Violence in Afghanistan has left four US soldiers and more than a dozen others dead. The Americans, members of the 40-nation International Security Force (Isaf), were killed in two roadside bomb attacks in eastern Afghanistan on Monday. "Four International Security Assistance Force service members were killed as a result of two improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in eastern Afghanistan today," an Isaf statement said. The statement did not specifically say where the attacks...


Journalists Lisa Ling and Euna Lee to go on trial in North Korea The Times
They are held alone in separate rooms and only occasionally allowed outside. In 12 weeks they have had one visitor. They pass the time with exercises, meditating and frequent weeping. According to their families, they are "very, very scared". Solitary confinement is hard enough at the best of times...



The Big Question: Do Pakistan's gains in the Swat valley mean it is overcoming the Taliban? The Independent
Why are we asking this now? Over the weekend, the Pakistani army announced that it had taken control of Mingora, the main town in the country's Swat Valley, which has been the location of a major operation to counter and kill Taliban fighters. Capture of the town was both a considerable strategic...


Poddala Jayantha beaten as Sri Lanka tries to silence the media The Times
A prominent Sri Lankan press freedom campaigner was abducted and beaten in Colombo yesterday in the latest in a string of assaults on government critics. Poddala Jayantha, the secretary of the Sri Lankan Working Journalists, said that he was pushed into a van by a gang of men,...


Pakistani Militants Abduct Students in North Waziristan Voa News
Pakistani officials say Taliban militants in North Waziristan have kidnapped about 400 students at a military college in Bannu district. Police in Bannu district say the students were traveling in around 30 vehicles and were stopped Monday evening after leaving Razmak Cadet...


4 Afghan Police Voa News
Officials in Afghanistan say three separate attacks have killed four Afghan police officers and four U.S. soldiers. Afghan officials Monday said Taliban militants attacked...




'Dozens missing' in Pakistan attack Al Jazeera
Dozens of students and teachers have been reported missing after their convoy was stopped by suspected Taliban fighters in the northwest of the country. Four vehicles out of a convoy of about 27 from the Razmak Cadet College in North Waziristan were taken by armed men after they were...



Army Capture of Swat Valley Town Leaves Trail of Destruction Voa News
Aid agencies say the humanitarian situation is still dire for Pakistanis in the northwestern Swat Valley, where the military waged a fierce battle for control of the main town of Mingora. The military victory there has left the town all but destroyed. Just days after the military took control of...









Fears mount that North Korea is preparing to attack the South The Times
It was obvious that something was up when the Chinese scarpered. One day there were scores of their fishing boats hoovering up the valuable crabs from the richest of the fishing grounds in the Yellow Sea. Overnight all but a handful were gone. Anywhere else the locals would have been glad to have...