Taiwan's president tightens China policy, to push for referendum Jan 1, 2006, 17:51 GMT Taipei - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian Sunday pledged to exercise more control of the island's economic ties with China and push for a new constitution, in what analysts saw as a bid to please pro-independence voters after his party's worst election setback. ....more

President says China pledged to peace Jan 1, 2006, 18:27 GMT BEIJING, China -- China`s president, in his New Year`s address, promised the country would continue to develop peacefully while helping poor countries advance. ....more

Crash victim China`s 6th organ donor Jan 1, 2006, 18:20 GMT SHAOGUAN, China -- A Chinese family has become the country`s sixth to donate the organs of a brain-dead person. ....more

Indonesian police intensify investigation into deadly blast Jan 1, 2006, 17:51 GMT Jakarta - Investigators intensified their probes Sunday into a year-end blast in Indonesia's sectarian-violence ravaged province of Central Sulawesi that left at least eight people dead and injured 50 others. ....more

Taiwan's president tightens China policy, to push for referendum Jan 1, 2006, 17:51 GMT Taipei - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian Sunday pledged to exercise more control of the island's economic ties with China and push for a new constitution, in what analysts saw as a bid to please pro-independence voters after his party's worst election setback. ....more

Sixty Malaysians hospitalized after chlorine gas leak Jan 1, 2006, 17:47 GMT Kuala Lumpur - Sixty people in eastern Malaysia were rushed to a hospital when they inhaled chlorine gas that seeped out of an industrial gas cylinder, news reports said Sunday. ....more

Truck slams into a group of marching students, kills 11 Jan 1, 2006, 17:40 GMT Jakarta - At least 11 people were killed and 15 others seriously injured after a truck hit dozens of secondary school students at the Indonesian island of Madura in the early hours of Sunday, local media reports said. ....more

Open societies and Muslims Dec 30, 2005, 17:08 GMT JAKARTA, Indonesia -- To be a good Muslim, it is far more virtuous and valuable to be in an open society, instead of living in a closed society where people are forced to follow the dictates of the religion, a prominent Thai Muslim scholar says. Surin Pitsuwan, a former Thai foreign minister, said here on Tuesday that every human being must be responsible for their own conduct and exercise free will. ....more

Rise and fall of China in 2005 Dec 30, 2005, 14:46 GMT BEIJING, China -- Events in China during 2005 point to a country on the rise in the economic sphere, but one that faces a variety of daunting political and social dilemmas. ....more

N.Korea standoff back on Dec 30, 2005, 14:46 GMT SEOUL, South Korea -- Through 2005 North Korea and the United States were engaged in a tug-of-war over Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons programs and U.S. financial sanctions on the communist state, and the North sought to form a united front with South Korea against Washington. ....more

S.Korea eyes 5% growth Dec 28, 2005, 18:33 GMT SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea will maintain expansionary economic policies next year to accelerate its growth to 5 percent from an estimated 3.8 percent in 2005, the finance ministry said Wednesday. ....more