Wed05232012
Last update03:02:02 PM
The body of Poland's First Lady, Maria Kaczynska, has been flown to Warsaw to lie in state alongside that of her husband, President Lech Kaczynski.
Poland has seen an outpouring of grief since the couple and scores of other senior Polish officials died in a plane crash in western Russia on Saturday....
A government-appointed panel probing the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war began work in Colombo...
Luxury Insider, Asia's leading luxury online magazine announced that the Six Senses Spa at Heritance...
Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan said on Saturday he would retire from the international ...
A bit of progress is being reported at the Japanese nuclear power plant, crippled by last month's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting large tsunami.
The operator of the severely damaged Fukushima-1 nuclear plant and Japan's government are contending the worst is past, here.
But the president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Masataka Shimizu, is again apologizing for causing the month-long crisis that has provoked health and environmental concerns far from Japan. 
A bit of progress is being reported at the Japanese nuclear power plant, crippled by last month's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting large tsunami.
The operator of the severely damaged Fukushima-1 nuclear plant and Japan's government are contending the worst is past, here.
But the president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Masataka Shimizu, is again apologizing for causing the month-long crisis that has provoked health and environmental concerns far from Japan. 
CAIRO — Egypt was engulfed in a fifth day of protests on Saturday but an attempt by President Hosni Mubarak to salvage his 30-year rule by firing his cabinet and calling out the army appeared to backfire as troops and demonstrators fraternized and called for the president himself to resign. 
The prime ministers of China and Japan have met amid a diplomatic row that threatened to overshadow a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders being held in Vietnam.
Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, held a brief meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, on Saturday as leaders of 16 nations - 10 from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand - met in Hanoi.
Kan said that good relations with Beijing were very important for Asian and world stability, saying that despite the seeming deterioration in relations, there was no change in Japan's stance to effort strategic and beneficial ties with China. 
LONDON — A British aid worker in Afghanistan who died during a botched US rescue raid was likely killed by an exploding suicide vest held by one of her captors, a government source in London said on Sunday.
Linda Norgrove, 36, was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan staff were captured on September 26 while travelling in Kunar, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.
An international operation was launched to rescue her, carried out late Friday by US forces, but she died during the attempt.
"All the information we have is that she was killed by an explosion, most likely a suicide vest held by a hostage taker," a British government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Nothing at all suggests US fire was the cause of the death."
On Saturday an Afghan intelligence official had suggested that Norgrove was killed by a grenade thrown into the room where she was being held as the US forces approached. The troops then killed all her captors, the official said.
A Western official speaking on condition of anonymity said the rescue attempt was ordered because Norgrove was under imminent threat -- "either being killed or being taken to Pakistan".
"I don't know if it was a bomb, a grenade, belt or anything. But the captors killed her. US special forces who were involved didn't kill her. She was inside the room. They really did their best," the official said.