Israel's PM meets a top US envoy amid efforts to revive Middle East peace talks with a deal limiting Jewish settlement activity.  | | Officials say a Frenchman seized by Somali rebels has escaped, but reports that a second hostage is also free are denied. |
Wed. 26 Aug 2009 0908 UTC
US Senator Edward Kennedy, Heir of Powerful Family, Dies
Democratic senator had been suffering from incurable form of brain cancer for just over a year
Tributes Pour in for Late US Senator Edward Kennedy 
President Obama says US lost a 'great leader' in Senator Kennedy, who died Tuesday night at his Massachusetts home at age of 77
Israeli PM, US Envoy to Discuss Settlement Dispute
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel working to reach compromise with US that will allow Israelis to continue building controversial settlements while restarting peace talks
Envoys From the Two Koreas Meet to Discuss Family Reunions
Thousands of families remain separated by political division of Korean peninsula
Indian Prime Minister Calls for Crackdown on Corruption
Speaking at national conference of anti-corruption officials, Manmohan Singh says corruption is an impediment to India's growing economy
| QUOTE OF THE DAY | |
 |  The present regulations imposed on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are worse than the previous rules.  —Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer |
OPINION
Editorial: Tension in the North |
| Tension between the Burmese military and the ethnic ceasefire militias has been rising along the Sino-Burmese border in recent months. |
Another Huge Drug Bust in Tachilek |
| By WAI MOE |
| High-ranking Burmese officials are visiting the Thai-Burmese border town of Tachilek after huge amounts of heroin and methamphetamine pills were seized there. |
Junta Tries to Discredit Kokang Leaders Linked to Drugs |
| By SAW YAN NAING |
| The government is pressuring the Kokang ceasefire group on the basis of its links to illegal drugs, in a tactic to achieve Kokang compliance with the junta’s border guard plan. |
Junta Warns Buddhist Monks Online |
| By ARKAR MOE |
| A junta-run Web site warns that the Burmese regime will take ‘severe action’ against Buddhist monks suspected of planning a military boycott. |
Australia Says ‘No’ to Cross-border Relief |
| By ALEX LEWIS |
| A Burmese delegation left Canberra empty-handed last week, the apparent victims of geopolitics. Meanwhile, the suffering at the Thai-Burmese border goes on. |
ADB: Slowdown Mars Poverty Reduction Goals in Asia |
| By TERESA CEROJANO |
| Large pockets of extreme poverty and hunger persist in Asia, where the global downturn makes it more difficult to achieve UN goals to reduce the ranks of the poor, the Asian Development Bank said. |
