KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia auto player Naza said Monday it plans to tie up with US giant General Motors to assemble Chevrolet cars in Malaysia, and could export the vehicles to other Southeast Asian markets.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - It's tough being an opposition party member in Singapore, but history undergraduate Bernard Chen of the Workers' Party is unfazed as he meets voters, organises events and attends internal meetings.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – After years of earning less than their male counterparts, some American women are catching up to and even overtaking men in terms of how much they earn, but only some of them, a study shows.

I was reading some research the other day and came across an article here that talked about the different types of dogs in terms of our relationships with them. There were 3 main categories and as you read have a think about which one you might be in?

WANGARATTA, Australia (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Australians were poised to flee their homes in the country's southeast Monday as worsening floods inundated at least 300 houses, officials said.

JAKARTA (AFP) - An ultralight aircraft crashed into a rice field Monday in Indonesia, killing the pilot, police said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Japanese electronics maker Toshiba has recalled 41,000 laptop computers worldwide because of a fire risk, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An 11-year-old Australian boy was recovering in hospital Saturday after reportedly being left with a "dirty great hole in his belly" after being mauled by a sea lion during a show at a Sydney zoo.

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man drove the wrong way down an expressway for 90 kilometres (55 miles) and broke through five police barricades because his cat had died, he told police.

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan on Saturday offered to resign after being accused of nepotism over the controversial hiring of his daughter, a spokesman for the ministry said.

Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979 by Thomas Hegghammer An engaging study of the rise of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, this book traces the movement’s evolution from a Pan-Islamic volunteer force in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to a fermentation period in Saudi Arabia and finally its emergence as a global jihadi network. It also shows how Saudi leaders have successfully used softer techniques to undermine al-Qaeda's mass appeal. - Brian M Downing (Sep 3, '10)

The US's standing in Central Asia has taken a big hit after Kyrgyzstan's interim President Roza Otunbayeva, under pressure from nationalists, shut the door on its idea for a European-led security mission to keep peace between Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities. Talks this week underscore that US policy can be salvaged only with sincere Russian help. But Moscow is brooding. - M K Bhadrakumar (Sep 3, '10)

In Donald P Gregg, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, North Korea has found an unlikely advocate for its claim of innocence in the sinking of the South's corvette the Cheonan. Gregg goes further in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, blaming Washington and Seoul for driving Kim Jong-il into the arms of China. - Donald Kirk (Sep 3, '10)

Taiwan's plans to halve the price of local rice wine have angered fellow World Trade Organization members, who say this creates unfair competition to imported whisky and cognac. Insisting the spirit is used only for cooking and therefore exempt from high taxes, Taipei hopes that feeding Western dignitaries dishes like sesame chicken will convince them to drop their complaints. - Jens Kastner (Sep 3, '10)

The International Monetary Fund is to give Pakistan US$450 million in immediate emergency funding while the World Bank has topped up its aid to the flood-stricken country to $1 billion. Yet to be decided by the IMF is if and when it will release more than $1 billion in loans agreed to in 2008. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider

Ten years ago, while the Taliban were filling their coffers with taxes from the world's largest smuggling ring, a reincarnation of the Queen of Sheba was playing her part in a sprawling west Afghan underground network of women refusing to be locked indoors. Today, the Afghan-Pakistan border is still porous, and the Taliban seem to believe they may even get their Talibanistan back. - Pepe Escobar (Sep 3, '10) This is the conclusion of a three-part report.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is to seek the backing of institutional investors in the United States for his hostile takeover bid for Norilsk Nickel. Echoing in the background is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recent warning on how company profits should not be disbursed, and his approval of shareholders when they "are not greedy, not mean, not argumentative". - John Helmer

The stay of execution granted Research in Motion before it has to give the Indian government access to BlackBerry encrypted data services does not mean a retreat by New Delhi, which now has Google and Skype in its sights. Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.

Asia's stock markets put on a positive showing over the past week, with Australia and its near 4% gain leading the way and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index staging a recovery. But muddle and outside forces, rather than confidence, were the driving forces. R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week's markets.

It is estimated it will take 3,000 years to clear Laos of all the explosive remnants left behind from United States bombers over 30 years ago. More than 20,000 people have died from unexploded ordnance since conflict ended. Now, new questions are being asked about whether the US government should pay much more for the damage it has caused. - Melody Kemp (Sep 3, '10)

The 2010 Population and Housing Census here in Thailand, will take place during the month of September, and will involve the gathering of information from Thai citizens around the Kingdom, and information from long-term foreign residents. This is the 100th Anniversary of the census which takes place every 10 years. Over 70,000 enumerators will gather the [...]

Recently at the Sattahip Community Health Centre, over 250 elderly members of the local community attended a registration meeting to ensure they can take advantage of a new scheme which is being backed by the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and the Queen Sirigit Hospital. This new scheme ensures the registered elderly can receive free regular chuck-ups, along [...]

US Customs officials have seized more than 50lb of marijuana hidden inside a tombstone destined for Britain. The tombstone was being shipped from Kingston, Jamaica, to the UK via Cincinnati. It has the name of 35-year-old Delroy Senior inscribed on it. Part of the inscription read: “Your place no one can fill.” The marijuana ia thought to have a [...]

American golfer and world number six, Jim Furyk, was kicked out of the first FedEx Cup play-off on Wednesday after missing his tee-off time by oversleeping. Furyk, 40, told the official website of PGA Tour that he set an alarm on his cell phone which ran out of power overnight and failed to wake him up. “The [...]

A German doctor who accidentally killed 70-year-old Cambridgeshire patient David Gray has lost his legal bid to stop his sons talking to the media. Dr Daniel Ubani, who was struck off by the General Medical Council, claimed Rory and Stuart Gray should not be able to call him a “killer” and “charlatan”. A German court rejected his [...]

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij on Tuesday predicted that the Thai baht will continue strengthening, but the trend will not affect Thailand’s export competitiveness because other currencies in the region are moving in the same direction. “Undeniably, the baht has appreciated for a year and is very likely to continue strengthening,”  he said. What could have an impact [...]

Though most autopsy results on the 89 victims of the redshirt crackdown in May are ready to be made public, “it is still difficult to identify who killed them”, a senior Department of Special Investigation official said yesterday. “The identification process is rather problematic, given the fact that firearms were used by both security officials and [...]

The meeting of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Wednesday decided to raise the repurchase rate (RP) by 0.25%, from 1.50% to 1.75%, reports said. The new policy rate takes effect immediately. The panel said the policy rate is now on an upward trend, in line with economic recovery. Earlier, Federation of Thai Industries chairman Payungsak [...]

Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Aye on Wednesday arrived in the Thai capital, a day after the Thai envoy returned to resume his duties in Phnom Penh, amid hopes that bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries will gradually improve. Ms You Aye arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport Wednesday morning via Bangkok Airways flight PG 932. She [...]

Following a marathon five-day debate, the 2011 Budget Bill got the nod in the House of Representatives yesterday with an overwhelming number of votes. The Lower House voted 253-178 to pass the government-sponsored bill, with 14 abstentions. Twenty-one MPs did not vote. While coalition partners showed the strong support that was expected, some opposition MPs from Pracharaj [...]