AP - India will soon announce how it plans to make its currency fully convertible, the finance minister said Monday, a decade after such plans were shelved following the Asian economic crisis nearly a decade ago.

AFP - The United States, Australia and Japan concluded historic security talks with praise for China's engagement in the Asia-Pacific and an agreement to seek greater cooperation within Asia.

AP - India is looking into making its currency fully convertible and lifting all restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, a top government official said Sunday, a decade after such plans were shelved following the East Asian economic crisis.

Andrea Moore - AHN Staff Reporter Sydney, Australia (AHN) - Thousands of anti-war protesters marched in Australia, Turkey and Asian countries at the start of global demonstrations planned across the globe Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Demonstrations...

AFP - The United States, Australia and Japan concluded historic security talks with praise for China's engagement in the Asia-Pacific and an agreement to seek greater cooperation within Asia.

AFP - The United States, Australia and Japan concluded historic security talks Saturday with praise for China's engagement in the Asia-Pacific and an agreement to seek greater cooperation within Asia.

AFP - The communist regime of Laos has opened its four-day party congress to set the course the isolated and poverty-stricken Southeast Asian country for the next five years.

AFP - Undefeated South Korea, with two triumphs already over Japan, will try to complete a humbling of their Asian arch-rivals with a semi-final victory at the World Baseball Classic.

AP - Just five years ago, Japan's electronics makers were in a sorry state. Profits were sinking as less expensive Asian rivals grabbed market share — and prices for everything from computer chips to DVD players dropped. These days, they've found a savior: the flat-panel TV.

AP - China should adopt a more flexible currency exchange rate policy and must do more to stamp out piracy, the World Trade Organization recommends in its first trade review of the Asian country, according to a summary obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The Queen is officially welcomed to the south-east Asian city state, where she last made a state visit in 1989.

Reuters - Four Asian nations confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on Thursday while China said it faced a long struggle to contain the disease before the arrival of flu-carrying migratory birds in spring.

AP - The Internet's key oversight agency has outlined a plan for testing domain names entirely in non-English characters, bringing closer to reality a change highly sought by Asian and Arabic Internet users.

Reuters - A Philippine judge ordered four U.S. marines, accused of raping a 22 year-old Filipino woman, to appear in court next week to submit their pleas, marking the start of their trial.

Reuters - Hollywood studio MGM plans to bring its roaring lion trademark to an Asian tiger economy by opening its first overseas theme park in South Korea, officials said on Wednesday.

AP - Azerbaijan reported three people killed by bird flu, after Myanmar announced its first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain in poultry and officials cited a strong threat that the disease also struck Afghanistan.

Reuters - President George W. Bush's visit to India and Pakistan this month underscored dramatically the increasingly divergent U.S. approaches to the South Asian nuclear rivals.

AFP - Japan's Ichiro Suzuki and several major league pitchers from South Korea will try to show that Asia's elite can beat the game's biggest stars when the World Baseball Classic resumes.

Denise Royal - AHN Staff Writer Miami, FL (AHN) - A long-horned beetle, that has destroyed mango plantations in China, was found for the first time in the United States at the Port of Miami aboard a freighter transporting cargo from Hong Kong. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture...

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that China could become a "negative force" in the Asia-Pacific region and urged the US, Australia and Japan to form a common position on how to engage the Asian economic powerhouse, reports said.