Village Fete

Families blame lax safety for airline crash

Families of the victims of the Phuket air disaster are joining a £125m lawsuit which could shed harsh light on budget airlines

Over and out

Why a former para commander quit the army after Afghanistan

Children forced to perform lethal circus acts

Indian children as young as five are being sold to the circus and forced to perform dangerous and deadly acts

Steelworks' move lets Beijing breathe

The Chinese capital is so keen to cut pollution in time for the Olympics that it has moved one of its plants 140 miles away

Gathering storm in tea gardens of Darjeeling

As a Gurkha separatist campaign is relaunched, the region’s most famous export is hit by a strike and the eviction of tourists

Thailand and Cambodia teeter on edge of conflict

Asia's newest flashpoint emerges as troops pull guns on one another in a tense stand-off in a 1,100-year-old Hindu temple

Tropical storm leaves seven dead in Taiwan

The storm, called Kalmaegi, lashed the south of the country with torrential rain, triggering flash floods and landslides

Chinese blackout over new Tibetan monk deaths

Sources in Lhasa claim that two monks at a monastery in western Sichuan province were killed in a clash on July 12

Australian vet rescues rare shark by pulling hook from throat

David Blyde reached between the jaws of the 10-foot (3 metre) gray nurse shark to dislodge the hook, which was stuck in its digestive tract.

From joystick to helmet: it's all in the mind

Australian company Emotiv is expected to launch the first thought-controlled game by the end of the year

Commentary: Nintendo is not just toying

Everyone with an interest in video games has learnt not to ignore (or mock) Nintendo’s crazy ideas

India’s Government accused of buying votes

An MP has revealed how offers have been made of up to 250 million rupees, £3 million, for each vote cast in parliament

US leaves Afghan outpost after Taleban raid

Small base in eastern Afghanistan vacated after just over half of the US garrison was killed or injured by Taleban

Fury as bishop describes sex abuse as 'old wounds'

British man who intends to confront the Pope in Sydney over rape of his daughters infuriated by bishop's dismissive remarks

China jails its first office sex pest

Landmark conviction will alter a workplace culture in which women are still expected to make tea for male colleagues

Obama: we will lead, not alienate the world

Barack Obama promised a 'new era of international co-operation' and pledged the US would devote its energies to Afghanistan

Confusion 'put lives at risk' in Taleban attack

The operation in which two soldiers died was delayed because of uncertainty over rules of engagement, coroner hears

China wins algae battle at Olympic sailing venue

Beijing clears Olympic sailing venue of foul-smelling green algae, but officials are patrolling waters around the clock

Anti-pope activists can 'annoy' Catholic pilgrims

A court struck down a new law passed by the Government and backed protesters' right to hand out condoms and coat-hangers

Malaysian opposition leader held for sodomy

Road blocks set up and police mobilised after controversial sodomy arrest of Anwar Ibrahim, opposition leader