AP - The Islamic world's largest organization of countries demanded on Thursday that the U.N. implement an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and investigate what it called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.

AP - Lebanon's death toll in more than three weeks of Israel-Hezbollah fighting has reached more than 900, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said Thursday in a video statement to an Islamic conference in Malaysia.

AFP - World champions Australia will clash with India and the West Indies in a limited-overs tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia in September, the Indian board said.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has departed Asia for the Middle East, wagering personal prestige on a bid to sign up Israel and Lebanon to a UN resolution aimed at sidelining Hezbollah.

AFP - Malaysia and the United States signed a pact to help both countries carry out criminal investigations to combat crimes such as terrorism and corruption.

AFP - Some 1,000 anti-war demonstrators and political activists tried to storm the venue of Asian security talks here and demanded a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

AP - A bomb believed rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a bank in southwestern Pakistan and wounded 21 people Friday, one critically, a medical official said. It was unclear who was behind the bombing outside a branch of the state-owned Allied Bank Ltd., which was open at the time, in Quetta, the capital of insurgency-wracked Baluchistan.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, brushing aside North Korea's latest statement refusing to take part in multinational talks on its nuclear weapons program, said Friday the United States is "ready at any time" to go back to negotiations in that format.

AP - Five Muslim countries denounced Israel's offensive in Lebanon on Friday, calling for an immediate halt to the hostilities.

Reuters - Malaysia's official trustee company is having difficulty finding people to whom it can give away 471 million ringgit, or 117 million pounds, in inheritances.

AP - Amid an intensifying clamor for an end to Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she was "willing and ready" to return to the Mideast to work on a cease-fire.

AP - The U.S. and other regional powers will meet Friday to discuss Asian security concerns after North Korea refused to talk with negotiating partners on its nuclear and missile programs, officials said.

AP - Colin Powell danced to "YMCA," and Madeleine Albright did an Eva Peron impersonation. But Condoleezza Rice decided to play a classical piano piece.

Reuters - Malaysia's outspoken former leader Mahathir Mohamad, embroiled in a political row with his successor's government, has a new venture -- running a Japanese-style baker's shop.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her North Korean counterpart headed for Malaysia Thursday amid a diplomatic scramble to broker new talks here on the North's nuclear weapons programs.

AFP - South Korea and Japan made fresh efforts to restart stalled nuclear talks as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her North Korean counterpart headed for security talks here.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she does not anticipate that the six parties seeking a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue will meet when Asian leaders gather later this week at a security forum in Malaysia.

AP - A top American diplomat said Wednesday the United States would try to hold a regional security meeting in Malaysia if North Korea continues to boycott six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he sent an invitation to his North Korean counterpart, Paek Nam-sun for a dialogue during the opening of the Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) regional security forum in Malaysia. If the meeting pushes through, this would be the...

AFP - Malaysia has deployed hundreds of police backed by helicopters and rolled out tight security as it prepares to host US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and dozens of other ministers.