BANGKOK - JAPANESE Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone met Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya on Saturday for brief but wide-ranging talks that dealt with the recent closure of Bangkok's airports by protesters.
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA police arrested 21 people including two opposition MPs for protesting against Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip, an activist said Saturday.
YANGON - MYANMAR, which declared itself free of polio in 2003 only to see it re-emerge three years later, has launched a new nationwide campaign against the crippling disease.
MANILA - ELECTRICITY was cut to wide areas of the southern Philippines on Saturday after suspected Muslim rebels blew up the main power transmission line with crude bombs, army and power company officials said.
Three or four improvised explosive devices made from mortar rounds toppled the transmission line tower in Lanao del Norte province on the southern island of Mindanao before dawn, army spokesman Steffani Cacho told reporters.
