Buddhist monks and nuns spruced up their monasteries and hung up welcome banners Friday in anticipation of the Dalai Lama's contentious visit to this remote Indian town near the Tibetan frontier.

Australian and Sri Lankan officials will hold high-level talks on Monday in Colombo on ways to combat people smuggling and illegal immigration, a foreign ministry official said.

A Japanese man who claimed to be a member of an organized crime gang killed himself after shooting and wounding three people, Kyodo News said, citing police.

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday pledged more than 500 billion yen (US$5.5 billion) in loans over three years for five Southeast Asian Mekong River nations, an official said.

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday said he does not plan to make a decision on the relocation of a controversial U.S. military base before President Barack Obama visits Tokyo next week.

Gunmen on a motorcycle wounded a senior army officer and soldier in the Pakistani capital Friday, the third such attack in about two weeks as militants retaliate against a new military offensive along the Afghan border.

A lone gunman shot and wounded three men Friday in a residential area near Tokyo and then took refuge in a building, officials say.

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time.

Washington is ready to boost ties with Myanmar but will not lift sanctions until there is progress on democracy, a U.S. diplomat said Thursday after the highest-level talks with the ruling junta in years.

The top U.S. diplomat for Asia, visiting Japan a week before the arrival of President Barack Obama, Thursday sought to smooth ties strained by a row over an American military airbase on Okinawa island.