Thailand

King now on road to recovery

Thailand's 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is recovering after suffering from internal bleeding likely induced by stress as a result of the country's flood crisis, Princess Chulabhorn said.

The king, who has been in hospital for more than two years, recently went into shock and fell unconscious but had received treatment and was getting better, the princess told flood victims at an evacuation center north of Bangkok.

South Korea

Cancer-suffering singer cheered

Joy and tears shared the stage as Lim Yoon-taek and his quartet won the top prize on the South Korean equivalent of American Idol, ending a quest that captured the hearts of the nation after Lim, the group leader, revealed he had stomach cancer.

The slim, bespectacled Lim, 32, had grown thinner and lost his hair as the contest wore on and his stage-four cancer took a toll. Doctors said the disease had spread throughout his body and warned the group to prepare for the worst. But on Friday night Lim's flamboyant solo break dancing moves and a cappella singing helped lead his group, Ulala Session, to the top prize in the Superstar K program, beating nearly two million competitors.

Turkey

Ferry hijacker killed by military

Turkish security forces killed a lone hijacker, believed to be a Kurdish militant, in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday to rescue more than 20 passengers held hostage for 12 hours on a ferry in northwest Turkey.

"It was clear that the assailant was a terror group member," Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters. He was between 28 and 30 years old and was carrying a device with a button and cables, which bomb disposal experts were analyzing, Mutlu said.

Iran

15 killed in blast at military base

Fifteen Iranian servicemen were killed and several others seriously wounded in an explosion on Saturday at a military base near Tehran that happened as troops were moving munitions, a Revolutionary Guards spokesman told state TV.

Revolutionary Guards were moving munitions in one of the arsenals at the base when the explosion occurred.

Pakistan

Militants threaten central government

The most powerful militant leader in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region has threatened to tear up a peace accord and turn his fighters against the Islamabad government. Hafiz Gul Bahadur has an unofficial non-aggression pact with the military, focusing instead on attacking US troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Karzai government faces challenge

A new political coalition called the National Front of Afghanistan came into being on Friday to challenge the present administration run by President Hamid Karzai in the war-torn Afghanistan, local media reported on Saturday.

Leadership of the platform, teamed by former vice-president Ahmad Zia Masoud, legislator and leader of the People's Unity Party of Afghanistan Hajji Mohammad Mohaqiq, former strongman of the north and head of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan General Abdul Rashid Dustam, former spy agency chief Amrullah Saleh and tribal leader Hajji Aman Khairi from Nangahar province, had criticized the Karzai government for what they described "a failed administration".

United States

Perry fundraising slows after gaffes

Fundraising for Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, who has raised millions since declaring his candidacy in August, has slowed significantly, exacerbated by poor debate performances, sources close to his campaign said on Friday. The Texas governor once sat atop national polls and led the money race during the most recent reporting quarter, but gaffes and other problems in a string of televised Republican candidates' debates has eaten into his backing.

News Watch

The death toll of Turkey's latest deadly earthquake increased to at least 32, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate said on Saturday. The government said 20 others were injured in Wednesday's 5.6-magnitude quake in the eastern province of Van.

Reuters - Xinhua

(China Daily 11/13/2011 page2)