ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN denied Tuesday making concessions to militants after signing a deal allowing them to impose Islamic law in an area where government troops have failed to put down insurgency.

The United States, which puts South Asia on the frontline of the 'war on terror,' has branded extremists in northwest Pakistan a direct threat to the country, its neighbour Afghanistan, US security and other powers.

KOLKATA (India) - INDIAN snake charmers, whose baskets and flutes have launched a thousand picture postcards, rallied in Kolkata on Tuesday to protest a ban they say is killing their generations-old profession.

SEOUL - NORTH Korea plans to host its Arirang festival - the world's largest mass performance - this year and schoolchildren have been practising daily since last month, a tour agency said on Tuesday.