SEOUL - Hardline South Korean unions began a two-day strike to protest against soaring unemployment and the prospect of mass layoffs as the stock market took another dive.
ULAN BATOR - A Mongolian airliner that went missing carrying 28 people, including 12 children, has been found crashed on a snow-covered mountain.
NEW DELHI - India said it was ready to discuss a „no first use“ agreement on nuclear weapons with Pakistan and other countries bilaterally or collectively.
TYRE, Lebanon - Two Israeli helicopters raided suspected Hizbollah guerrilla targets in south Lebanon.
JAKARTA - Indonesian President Jusuf Habibie assured a visiting U.S. congressman that his country was not considering heading towards an Islamic state with its proposed political reforms.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said a statement by U.N. Chief weapons inspector Richard Butler that Iraq was still hiding prohibited weapons was baseless and aimed at misleading public opinion.
WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration hit back at House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, branding as outrageous and offensive his comment that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was an agent for the Palestinians.
BONN - Iranian authorities are to drop a death sentence against a German businessman for having sexual relations out of wedlock with an Iranian woman.
