Asia-Pacific Region Intelligence Center

A casual secretary-general set an example to his staff Critics who say the UN only churns out hot air will find even more of the stuff if they visit the UN's New York headquarters this month. Under the Cool UN initiative, the air conditioning will be turned down and temperatures will rise several degrees. The plan is expected to save $100,000 during the month, as well as cutting carbon emission..

Footage of Iran missile test Iran has test-fired what it called a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which is capable of reaching its main regional enemy Israel, state media say. The missile, said to have a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles), was one of nine launched from a remote desert site. Iran has tested the Shahab-3 before, but the latest launch comes amid rising tensions with the US and Is..

Beijing is proud that it has had none of the construction problems of Athens 2004 By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing In the swish surroundings of the former US embassy in Beijing, the medals for this summer's Olympic Games were recently unveiled. It was the final stage of a process that had seen gold, silver and bronze brought to China from mines in Australia and Chile. The preparations for o..

South Korea has to import all of its crude oil supplies. South Korea has announced the first in a series of measures intended to tackle the cost of rising fuel prices. Thousands of public sector vehicles will only be allowed on the road on alternate days and government buildings air conditioning will be restricted. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said that if oil prices continued to rise, more ext..

More than 1,000 activists from around the world have marched ahead of the opening of the summit of leaders from the world's Group of Eight (G8) developed nations in Japan. The protesters called on G8 leaders to make a greater commitment to tackle climate change and poverty and to take actions against rising food prices. Students, trade unionists and farmers were among those taking part, many of..

Israel carries out regular raids into Gaza to counter Hamas rocket fire Israel and militant group Hamas have agreed on a truce starting on Thursday, Palestinian and Israeli officials have told the BBC. Israeli officials confirmed the start of the truce, but said Israel was "looking to see if this is serious". A Hamas official said he was confident all militant groups in Gaza would abide by the ..

Navy's service hopes for William By Nicholas Witchell Royal correspondent, BBC News Prince William has already spent a year with the ArmyThe Royal Navy was forced to bite its stiff upper lip and hide its intense disappointment three years ago when Prince William decided to follow his younger brother Harry into the British army. The navy had hoped that the second in line to the throne would foll..

Navy's service hopes for William By Nicholas Witchell Royal correspondent, BBC News Prince William has already spent a year with the ArmyThe Royal Navy was forced to bite its stiff upper lip and hide its intense disappointment three years ago when Prince William decided to follow his younger brother Harry into the British army. The navy had hoped that the second in line to the throne would foll..

Advertisement Thousands of people have marked a drinks ban on the London Tube with a party - leading to arrests, assaults and cancelled trains. Commuter Kevin Bentley described the chaos as he made his way home. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7429709.stm

Many Nepalese are looking forward to becoming the world's newest republic Nepal is due to become a republic and end 240 years of royal rule. A newly-elected assembly is to meet in the capital, Kathmandu, to abolish the monarchy but its key vote has been postponed for a few hours. As the assembly was being sworn in on Tuesday a bomb explosion in the capital injured two people. Meanwhile thousand..

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has toured cyclone-hit Burma and met the Burmese leadership in an effort to speed up the relief operation. The BBC's UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan is travelling with him. SUNDAY 25 MAY Back to Burma for a conference at which countries were to pledge aid to help the country recover from the cyclone - a very choppy ride in from Bangkok, which resulted in a dist..

Only a quarter of the 2.4m affected have received help, the UN says A senior UN official says there are fragile signs that Burma's co-operation with the international aid effort for victims of Cyclone Nargis is improving. Kathleen Cravero of the UN Development Programme told the BBC that visas had become more easily available and access to affected areas was getting better. But she said more wa..

More than five million buildings collapsed as a result of the earthquake UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised China's "extraordinary leadership" in dealing with the recent earthquake in Sichuan. He was speaking in the badly-hit town of Yingxiu, as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the death toll had passed 60,000 and could rise to 80,000. Mr Ban said the UN was ready to provide further su..

Taiwan's new president favours closer ties with Beijing Taiwan and Beijing will resume direct talks next month for the first time in a decade, the chairwoman of the island's Mainland Affairs Council says. Lai Shin-yuan told reporters: "You will see very soon in June the beginning of institutional negotiations between the two sides." There has been no comment so far on the subject from Beijing. ..

There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after a river nearby burst its bank sparking reports it could flood the entire city. James Reynolds reports from Beichuan.

Foreign rescue teams and the army are working alongside each other to save earthquake survivors trapped in the rubble of the destroyed Chinese town of Beichuan. James Reynolds reports from Beichuan.

Moscow riot police have warned they will be tough on any fans found causing trouble at next week's first ever all-English Champions League Final. James Rodgers reports.

North Korea has been dismantling the Yongbon site North Korea has handed over more than 18,000 pages of records on its nuclear weapons programme to the US. The documents log activities at North Korea's plutonium reactor at Yongbyon, which is thought to have produced the material for nuclear tests in 2006. North Korea shut down the reactor last year, but failed to meet a deadline to give a full ..

Buddhist monks are also taking part in cleaning up operations

In Katmandu, Nepal, Tibetan nuns flee from pursuing police officers during a demonstration against Chinese rule in Tibet. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7352542.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7352542.stm

North Korea does not produce enough food to feed its 23 million people North Korea is facing a humanitarian crisis caused by acute food shortages, a UN agency has warned. The situation there was "clearly bad and getting worse", a senior World Food Programme official said, and help was needed to avert serious tragedy. North Korea has been dependent on international food aid for years. But severe..

The brief meeting focused on forging better economic ties A high level meeting between China's President, Hu Jintao, and the man who will become Taiwan's next Vice-President, Vincent Siew, was historic - the highest level meeting between officials the two sides since 1949. It was also, many analysts believe, likely to set the two sides on a path for better relations in the future. Pictures of t..

Yi So-Yeon appears on a mission control screen with crewmates A Russian capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut has docked with the International Space Station (ISS). Yi So-Yeon and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday. The 29-year-old bio-engineer will spend about 10 days in space and conduct a series of scientific tests - some of which she..

The IMF's Strauss-Kahn wants strong action on food price inflation The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict. There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti..

Turnout is expected to dip to a new low of 50% South Koreans are voting in a parliamentary election amid forecasts of the lowest turnout since the end of military rule 20 years ago. The country's electoral commission is trying to lure voters to the polls with discount tickets to parks and museums. It comes little more than three months after President Lee Myung-bak's hard-fought election campai..

As a British inquest jury finds Princess Diana was unlawfully killed by driver Henri Paul and paparazzi pursuing her car, one of the photographers arrested on the night of her death in Paris speaks to the BBC. Laslo Veres does not speak easily to British journalists. He feels they have been too quick to blame the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on the paparazzi - photographers like himself -..

Ran Chen (l) says she wants to raise awareness about her father's case A Chinese businessman sentenced to death for spying for a Taiwanese organisation did not receive a fair trial, his daughter says. In a rare interview, Ran Chen tells the BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing she fears her father, Wo Weihan, could have been forced to confess while he was kept isolated from the outside world. Wo We..

President Bush is on a brief visit to Ukraine before travelling on to the Nato summit in Bucharest. Here workers prepare the red carpet. On arrival President Bush received a guard of honour with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko. Mr Bush has said the US fully supports Ukraine's aspirations to join Nato. He assured Ukraine that Russia would not be able to veto its membership. However t..

North Korea makes warship claim North Korea is angry about Seoul's new position on economic aid North Korea has accused Seoul of sending warships into its waters, amid a growing row between the countries. Pyongyang promised "unexpected countermeasures" should the alleged incursion continue. South Korean officials deny the claims. The latest threats come after days of sabre-rattling, the North t..