Asia News

BEICHUAN, China - A strong aftershock sparked landslides Friday near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake, while some survivors were pulled from rubble after being buried for four days.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's leading mobile phone group Bharti Airtel declined comment on media reports Friday that its negotiations to merge with Africa's top cellular player MTN were entering a crucial phase.

MIANYANG, China (AFP) - Cries for help echoed from under the rubble of shattered communities Friday as China warned time was running out to save survivors of an earthquake that has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Police probing bombings in western India that killed 63 people said on Friday that new evidence pointed increasingly towards Indian Islamists backed by a Bangladeshi militant group as being behind the blasts.

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani authorities Friday found the body of a paramilitary soldier beheaded by Taliban insurgents in a tribal area where a suspected US missile strike left 12 people dead, an official said.

KATMANDU, Nepal - Hundreds of Tibetan exiles calling for freedom in their homeland demonstrated in the Nepalese capital Friday until police stopped them.

YANGON, Myanmar - The United Nations said Friday that severe restrictions by Myanmar's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors' suffering, two weeks after a killer cyclone left up to 2.5 million people destitute.

KHAR, Pakistan - Suspected Islamic militants have killed a Pakistani soldier in revenge for an alleged U.S. missile strike near the Afghan border, an official said Friday.

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, said Friday prices are softening after Japan offered to sell rice to Manila amid news of bumper world harvests for 2008.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed into a bus carrying riot police in Sri Lanka's capital Friday, killing 10 people, including eight policemen, and wounding 85 others.

TOKYO - A U.S. Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl was convicted of a lesser charge Friday during a court martial and sentenced to four years in prison in a case that inflamed public anger at the American military presence on Okinawa.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - A high-level inquiry found evidence that prominent government and judicial figures — including former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad — were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate the appointment of judges, Malaysia's law minister said Friday.

BEIJING - The Sichuan government says the official death toll from this week's powerful earthquake in the Chinese province has risen to 21,500 people.

GAUHATI, India - Police say 12 people have been killed in fighting between rival rebel factions in India's remote northeast.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea expects the long-stalled international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs to resume next month, the country's chief negotiator said Friday.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Clashes in eastern and southern Afghanistan left eight militants dead, and a roadside bomb killed an Afghan soldier, officials said Friday.

BEICHUAN, China - A Chinese state news agency says that aftershocks have cut off roads and telecommunications in quake-hit Sichuan province, burying a number of vehicles.

SHANGHAI, China - Cracked dams and buckled roads, collapsed buildings and toppled factories — China has begun tallying losses from the calamitous earthquake that struck earlier this week, with estimates ranging to over $20 billion.

BEIJING - The death toll rose to 43 from the hand, foot and mouth disease virus that has sickened tens of thousands of children across China, a report said Friday.

GENEVA - The international Red Cross says a lack of clean water will be the biggest killer in Myanmar in the coming days.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A bomb blast blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels killed six policemen and wounded 50 people, including civilians, in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo Friday, the military said.

MANILA, Philippines - At least eight bank employees and a security guard were lined up and shot dead in the head Friday in a bloody Philippine bank robbery, police said. Another employee was in critical condition at a hospital.

BEICHUAN, China - A Chinese state news agency says rescuers have pulled a student to safety after being trapped for 80 hours in the debris of a school following this week's massive earthquake.

JAIPUR, India - Police released sketches of three men they believe were involved in bombings that ripped through this historic Indian city, killing 61 people.

BEIJING - After days of refusing foreign relief workers, China has accepted offers from four countries to send in rescue teams.

NEW DELHI - Long after the waves had ripped through her life with the force of a jet, long after the rubble had been cleared away, the woman sat in her half-built house and talked about what had become of her family, her village, her idea of community.

DUJIANGYAN, China - Tang Xiaomin had just left her fourth-floor apartment to buy groceries when the building started crumbling around her. An upstairs neighbor was thrown against the kitchen table and grabbed her purse before rushing out. Another resident, who was expecting a baby, was resting and became trapped.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations wants to send its top emergency relief coordinator to Myanmar — if he can get a visa from the ruling military junta.

DEYANG, China - After 11-year-old Zhang Jiazhi crawled free of the rubble that remained of his middle school, his parents began a 20-hour ordeal to get medical care for their son, whose arms were crushed to a pulp.