PAKISTAN - A massive earthquake rocked South Asia today, causing devastation across a wide area of Pakistan, northern India and Afghanistan.

MALAWI - Famine is once again stalking Africa's poorest nations as new figures released on Friday show that the food crisis in Malawi is much worse than anticipated.

PALO CAMPANA, EL SALVADOR - El Salvador's largest volcano erupted for the first time in a century on Saturday, killing two people and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

BALI, INDONESIA - Three near simultaneous blasts on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, triggered by human bombers, have killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 100, including many foreign tourists.

INDIA - India's economy expanded by 8.1 per cent in the three months to June, beating market forecasts,

TURKEY - Joining the European Union is the great Turkish dream.

USA - The United States has postponed punishing Saudi Arabia, its close ally and key oil supplier, for restricting religious freedom.

VIETNAM - Northern Vietnam was reeling from the aftermath of Typhoon Damrey which triggered landslides and flooding that left at least 57 people dead and caused widespread destruction.

LIMA, PERU - A powerful earthquake hit northern Peru late Sunday, causing power outages and cutting phone service throughout much of the region. At least one person was killed, officials said.

GERMANY - Conservative leader Angela Merkel has urged Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party to enter talks to form a "grand coalition" under her leadership.

NORWAY - The Norwegian opposition party regained power in the oil-rich country's general election yesterday, according to exit polls, after wooing voters with pledges to plough cash into their already generous welfare state system.

BEIJING, CHINA - North Korea clung to its right to a civilian nuclear programme on Tuesday, a position that has prevented progress in breaking a deadlock over its nuclear ambitions, as crisis talks opened in Beijing.

INDONESIA - A strong earthquake rocked Indonesia's tsunami-battered Aceh province, causing residents to flee their homes in panic, seismologists said Sunday, AP reported.

UNITED NATIONS - United Nations members are deeply divided over proposals for an urgent overhaul of the world body. The reform proposals were made this week in the report into the troubled Iraq oil-for-food programme.

USA - The cost of rebuilding the vast area devastated by Hurricane Katrina and providing relief to its inhabitants is expected to exceed $200 billion (109 billion pounds), a sum comparable to the gross domestic product of Poland.