US officials voiced concern Thursday about human rights in fast-growing Southeast Asian nations, pointing to a lack of progress in many places and a worsening situation in some.

Italy said two marines on trial for murder in India would return to the country by Friday, in a stunning turnaround after Rome earlier unleashed a diplomatic furore by saying they would not go back.

Chinese Internet users have deluged the microblog of the Russian embassy in Beijing with thousands of abusive comments within days of its opening, just ahead of a visit to Moscow by China's new president Xi Jinping.

Sri Lanka must launch an in-depth probe into claims that government troops killed 40,000 civilians during a 2009 offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended its three-decade civil war, the UN Human Rights Council said Thursday.

The United Nations on Thursday said it will for the first time establish a commission of inquiry into grave human rights violations in North Korea that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Myanmar must launch an independent investigation into reports of widespread human rights violations, the United Nations' top human rights body said Thursday.

Taiwan and China have agreed to consider exchanging liaison offices in yet another sign of warming ties between the former rivals, officials said Thursday.

Thailand plans to distribute about 1.7 million tablet computers to students and teachers this year in the world's largest handout of the devices for education, officials said Thursday.

Fiji's military leader on Thursday scrapped plans to hold an assembly to review a proposed new constitution, saying he wanted opinions directly from the people since opposition parties could not be trusted.

Sri Lanka announced on Thursday plans to take back part of a strategic oil storage depot from a state-run Indian firm after Delhi supported international calls to probe war crimes on the island.

Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Bangladesh's presidential palace Thursday to pay their last respects to president Zillur Rahman after he died in a Singapore hospital.

Sri Lanka announced on Thursday it would repossess part of a strategic oil storage depot from a state-run Indian firm after Delhi supported international calls to probe war crimes on the island.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard faced down a leadership challenge Thursday, emerging victorious from a party vote after former leader Kevin Rudd made a last-minute decision not to run.

North Korea on Thursday threatened strikes on US military bases in Japan and Guam, escalating tensions as suspicion deepened that Pyongyang was behind a cyber attack on South Korean broadcasters and banks.

The adoptions, driven largely by religious groups in the post-war period, "created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering", the national apology delivered by Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

Sri Lankan pro-government activists protested outside the US embassy in Colombo on Thursday as the UN Human Rights Council was set to vote on a resolution pressing for a war crimes probe against Sri Lanka.

India's top court upheld the death penalty Thursday for a mastermind of a series of bombings which killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993, the deadliest set of attacks in the country's history.

A top Indian opposition politician accused the government of launching a "vendetta" after police raided his home on Thursday, just a day after his party pulled out of the ruling coalition.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard retained the Labor party's top job Thursday after no-one stood against her in a ballot called in response to building pressure over her leadership.

Chinese netizens praised the US Treasury chief for eating a cheap dumpling lunch after meeting new President Xi Jinping, comparing his modest bill to the lavish spending habits of domestic officials.