...shanghai: china announced monday it was cracking down on major websites, including search engine giants google and baidu, over the spread of pornograp...

...beijing: three chinese internet operators have apologised for failing to purge "vulgar" content following a government pledge this week to expose and ...

...los angeles: actor patrick swayze says he is "going through hell" in his battle against cancer but has denied reports that he is close to death. ...

...new delhi: barely two weeks before george w. bush leaves the white house, bollywood is ready with a farewell present -- a film that takes pot shots at...

...los angeles: the producers guild of america on monday unveiled nominees for their film and television awards with "the dark knight" and "the curious c...

...los angeles: oscar-winning fugitive filmmaker roman polanski wants to disqualify the entire los angeles county court system from handling the sexual m...

...tokyo: japan is reportedly considering cash injections for scores of regional banks in an effort to encourage lending as the financial crisis creates ...

...new york: alcoa inc said on tuesday it would slash more than 15,000 jobs, halve capital spending and sell four businesses as it reduces aluminum produ...

...dakar: china has agreed to lend senegal just over 41 million euros to fund a number of public works projects, the senegalese finance ministry announce...

...london: the bank of england will thursday slash interest rates for a third month running, bringing them to their lowest ever levels as britain readies...

...singapore: oil prices were steady in asian trade wednesday after recent rallies, analysts said. new york's main futures contract, light sweet crude...

...tokyo: "please erase your image of electric cars being like golf carts," a spokesman for japan's fourth-biggest automaker said before taking a zero-em...

...tokyo: the dollar gained slightly in asian trade on wednesday, lifted by optimism about us president-elect barack obama's economic stimulus plans, dea...

...prague: gas supplies through the main import and transit pipeline from russia to the czech republic and western europe stopped completely overnight, t...

...shanghai: china issued long-anticipated third-generation mobile phone licences wednesday, state media said, a move that is likely to set off a new rou...

...mumbai: saina nehwal brushed aside her disappointment about missing an olympic medal to become the first indian woman to crack the top 10 in the world...

...rome: italy world cup winning goalkeeper gianlugi buffon made his long awaited return from injury on tuesday as his side juventus drew 1-1 with french...

...london: manchester city's new owner sheikh mansour bin zayed al nahyan is the richest man in british football with chelsea's roman abramovich down to ...

...kapalua: almost five years have slipped away since adam scott won the biggest title of his career at the players championship and he is eager to regai...

...perth: lleyton hewitt's troublesome hip has been given a baptism of fire at the hopman cup, but the former world no.1 has embraced his gruelling sched...

...beijing: chinese athletics star liu xiang may not compete in this year's world championships despite making a fast recovery from foot surgery, his coa...

...auckland: top seed elena dementieva beat local favourite marina erakovic to grab a quarter-final spot in the asb classic here wednesday as other seeds...

...sydney: new zealand crushed west indies by seven wickets in their third limited-overs one-day international at wellington on wednesday. the kiw...

...kuala terengganu: malaysia's opposition leader anwar ibrahim has renewed his vow to seize power from the ruling coalition, as the two sides lock horns...

...beijing: china's state media has issued an unusually candid warning of the risk of mass riots this year, in what observers said wednesday reflected in...

...kabul: the presidents of afghanistan and pakistan were set to hold fresh talks on wednesday after pledging to work together to fight terrorism and ext...

...islamabad: the chief of pakistan's powerful inter-services intelligence (isi) agency has said there will not be a war with india over november's milit...

...washington: president george w. bush will talk briefly in private with his successor barack obama on wednesday before a rare white house lunch with al...

...phnom penh: thousands of cambodian survivors of the khmer rouge "killing fields" marked 30 years on wednesday since the fall of pol pot's ultra-maoist...

...yanjiao: china issued a bird flu alert on wednesday after a woman died of the virus, the first such death in the country in almost a year, and closed ...