South Korea insists it paid no ransom to Taliban
SEOUL - South Korea 's presidential office denied a Taliban claim on Saturday that it had paid a ransom of more than $20 million (9.9 mi......

China bird flu victim ate sick chickens: officials
HONG KONG - A woman in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which she probably contracted fro......

Bond breaks British box office record
LONDON - The new James Bond film "Quantum of Solace " enjoyed a record opening weekend in Britain, earning 15.4 million pounds ($25 mil......

South Koreans who died on K-2 were seasoned climbers
By Kamran Haider ISLAMABAD - Rescuers have reached an Italian mountaineer who refused to succumb to frostbite and exhaustion on K......

Baghdad anniversary clampdown fails to stop violence
By Ahmed Rasheed and Wisam Mohammed BAGHDAD - Twenty people were killed in Baghdad 's Shi 'ite slum of Sadr City on Wednesday, se......