Asia News Headlines

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has approved a two-year extension to a landmark ban on clearing primary rainforests and peatlands, officials said Thursday. Environmentalists praised the move but said the government must do more to curb the nation's burgeoning production of greenhouse gases.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions for women's freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked a law on Saturday that aims to protect women's freedoms, with some arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles or encourage women to have sex outside of marriage.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Motorcycle-riding gunmen assassinated a police chief in front of his house after he led an anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan, an official said Saturday.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two bombs hidden in a motorcycle and a car exploded inside an elite gated community linked to the family of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 70 near the southern city of Kandahar, an official said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A car bomb exploded inside an elite gated community linked to the family of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 70 near the southern city of Kandahar, an official said.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets rose steadily on Friday after two key indicators suggested the U.S. economic expansion will continue.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Bombs that exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 15 people Friday, underlining the challenge of militant violence facing a new government set to take power under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

BEIJING (AP) — China is phasing out its reliance on executed prisoners for donated organs, but an architect of the country's transplant system said Friday that ingrained cultural attitudes are impeding the rise of donations among the general population.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets shrugged off suggestions the U.S. Federal Reserve may begin to reverse some of its asset purchase programs by the end of the summer, and were mostly higher ahead of key data releases Friday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Bombs that exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 13 people Friday, underlining the challenge of militant violence facing a new government set to take power under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The price of oil rose to near $96 a barrel on Friday ahead of the release of Conference Board's index of leading indicators for the U.S. economy.

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil fell to near $95 per barrel Friday after new signs of a choppy economic recovery in the U.S.

BANGKOK (AP) — World stock markets were mixed Friday as investors digested a slew of disappointing data from the U.S. ahead of the release of a key measurement of the country's economic outlook.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Bombs exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 30, police said.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed in holiday-thinned trading Friday as investors digested a slew of disappointing economic data and corporate results from the U.S.

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A once-fearsome cyclone that was threatening Bangladesh and Myanmar dissipated quickly, causing some deaths but largely relieving authorities who had told more than 1 million people to leave vulnerable coastal areas in preparation for a far worse storm.

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil fell below $95 per barrel Friday after new signs of a choppy economic recovery in the U.S.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The ceiling of a Cambodian factory that makes Asics sneakers collapsed on workers early Thursday, killing two people and injuring seven, in the latest accident spotlighting the often lethal safety conditions faced by those toiling in the global garment industry.

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — Cyclone Mahasan weakened Thursday afternoon into a tropical storm and then dissipated, causing far less damage than had been feared as it passed over Bangladesh and spared Myanmar almost entirely, meteorological officials said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Sitting on a dirty straw mat on the parched ground of southern Afghanistan, Masooma sank deeper inside a giant black shawl. Hidden from view, her words burst forth as she told her side of what happened to her family sometime before dawn on March 11, 2012.

LONDON (AP) — Financial markets were subdued Thursday despite encouraging growth figures out of Japan, as investors digested a mixed batch a U.S. economic data a day after Wall Street indexes hit record highs.