Spring blossoms

As one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar, Qingming, also known as Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day, falls on April 5 this year.

Unclaimed ashes get proper burial

636 people whose cremains were unclaimed, in some cases for years, received a dignified funeral and burial in Xuchang, Henan province

Stolen Gauguin on Sicily kitchen wall for 40 years

Still life painting created in 1889 traced to wealthy London family's collection

Chinese who want driver's licenses get them cheap in S. Korea

Chinese shoppers already have a seemingly insatiable appetite for South Korean pop music, TV dramas, cosmetics and fashion. Now they're after another must-have item: a driver's license.

A 'perfect storm' of smog in UK prompts health alert

Pollution from Europe and dust swirling in from the Sahara desert created a "perfect storm" of smog in Britain on Wednesday, prompting authorities to warn people with heart or lung conditions to reduce tough physical exercise outdoors.

Yakuza groups turn to Web in change of approach

Japan's biggest organized crime syndicate has launched its own website, complete with a corporate song and a strong anti-drugs message, as the yakuza tackles its outdated image and falling membership.

US soldier kills 3 in army base shooting

At least 16 wounded before gunman kills himself in Ford Hood incident

Ukraine detains 12 former riot police in deaths of protesters

Twelve members of Ukraine's disbanded "Berkut" riot police have been detained on suspicion of shooting civilian participants in Kiev's months long anti-government protests, a spokesman for the general prosecutor said on Thursday.

Faith in Gandhi dynasty wavers

Schoolteacher Arun Singh said he will vote once again for Rahul Gandhi as his member of Parliament in India's upcoming election, but more out of loyalty than conviction.

IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Kidnapped victim Gao is a seasoned traveler

Gao Huayun, a 29-year-old tourist from Shanghai, chose Semporna as her destination in Malaysia, a country currently not so popular among Chinese tourists that it is often not even listed in group packages of China-based travel agencies.

Sabah still involved in territorial row

The territorial dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines is over much of the eastern part of the state of Sabah, a territory known as North Borneo before the formation of Malaysia in 1963. The Philippines, presenting itself as the successor state of the Sultanate of Sulu, retains a "dormant claim" on Sabah on the basis that the territory was only leased to the British North Borneo Co in 1878, with the sovereignty of the sultanate over the territory never having been relinquished.