SEOUL - NORTH Korea said on Thursday that any UN discussion of its forthcoming rocket launch would be seen as a 'hostile act' and would cause the breakdown of international nuclear disarmament talks.

A foreign ministry spokesman said even a UN Security Council discussion, 'to say nothing of its adoption of any document containing even a single word critical of the launch whether in the form of a 'presidential statement' or a 'press statement,' will be regarded as a blatant hostile act.'

TAIPEI - TAIWAN on Thursday announced plans to set up a venture capital fund totalling NT$60 billion (S$2.66 billion) in a bid to boost the island's biotech industry and create more jobs.

TOKYO - A TOKYO court rejected a damages suit on Thursday by teachers who were reprimanded for refusing to stand and face the flag to sing the national anthem, which they say praises Japan's militarist past.