Several high-profile dissidents have been set free in Burma in the latest of a series of prisoner amnesties.

Those freed include veterans of the 1988 student protest movement, monks involved in the 2007 demonstrations and ethnic-minority activists.

Several high-profile dissidents have been set free in Burma in the latest in a series of prisoner amnesties.

Those freed included Min Ko Naing, who was one of the leaders of a failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

A seven-year-old boy pleaded with vigilantes not to burn his grandmother, asking why they were were pressing on with their deed even after she had apologised.

This is the chilling account of one of the tenants living on Raphael Zulu’s property, who recounted how Zulu and his common-law wife, Elsa Dubazane, were burnt to death on

An Israeli hacker has published details of hundreds of Saudi credit cards online and is threatening to post more in revenge for acts by Arab hackers.

Last week a hacker, claiming to be from Saudi Arabia, published information about tens of thousands of Israeli credit cards online. It was one of the worst incidents of data theft in Israel.

Experts say the attacks draw attention to the potential for virtual or cyber wars in the Middle East.

French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier has been killed in the Syrian city of Homs, the first Western journalist to die in the country's current unrest.

He was on a government-authorised trip to the city, the France 2 channel said.

Burma's government has signed a ceasefire deal with Karen rebels, a government official told the BBC.

The agreement came at talks between officials and the Karen National Union in Hpa-an, the capital of eastern Karen state.

Japan will take "concrete steps" to reduce its oil dependency on Iran, its finance minister has announced.

The comments from Jun Azumi came after he met US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Tokyo.

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, is visiting Turkey amid rising tensions between the neighbours.

Turkey's leaders have denounced the violent suppression of anti-government protests by the Syrian government - Tehran's main ally in the region.

Daniel Ortega has been sworn in for a controversial third term as Nicaragua's president following his landslide victory in November's polls.

The former Sandinista guerrilla leader has promised "no dramatic changes" during his next five years in office.

A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran, reports say.

Iranian media sources named the casualty as Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium

At least 24 people have been killed after a bomb exploded near a bus terminal in a tribal region of north-west Pakistan, officials say.

The blast took place in the town of Jamrud in the Khyber tribal region, an area where militants have previously

North Korea says it will grant an amnesty for prisoners to mark the birthdays of two late leaders.

State news agency KCNA said that the amnesty would begin from 1 February, in honour of Kim Jong-il, who died last month, and his father Kim Il-sung.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is giving a rare public address amid ongoing protests and bloodshed.

State media said the speech would address "internal issues and international and regional developments", without

TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson has been cautioned by police for shoplifting.

Police arrested the 60-year-old at the Tesco store in Reading Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on Friday.

An American man of Iranian descent has been sentenced to death by a court in Tehran for spying for the CIA, Iranian media report.

Amir Mirzai Hekmati was "sentenced to death for co-operating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism," semi-official Fars news agency said.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been acquitted of sodomy after a two-year trial.

Judge Zabidin Mohamad Diah said DNA evidence submitted by the prosecution was unreliable and discharged the case.

Hong Kong's brand-new government headquarters compound is contaminated with a bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, officials have confirmed.

Health officials conducted an investigation after a minister was hospitalised with the potentially fatal disease last month.

France is convinced Iran is developing nuclear weapons and should face "stricter sanctions", Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said.

He urged EU countries to follow the US in freezing Iranian central bank assets and imposing an embargo on oil exports.

Syrian security forces have reportedly clashed with protesters, leaving at least 10 dead, as tens of thousands took to the streets across the country.

Activists say the largest rallies took place in the north-western province of Idlib, and in the central city of Hama, where five people were shot dead

Chinese writer Chen Wei has been sentenced to nine years in jail for "inciting subversion of state power".

Mr Chen published several essays online calling for freedom of speech and reform of China's one-party system.