SEOUL, Nov 19 (AFP) - President Barack Obama announced Thursday he would send US envoy Stephen Bosworth to North Korea for direct talks on December 8, naming a date for the mission for the first time.

SEOUL, Nov 19 (AFP) - South Korea Thursday presented US President Barack Obama with a taekwondo outfit including an honorary black belt as a memento of his stay, officials said.

DHAKA, Nov 19 (AFP) - A Bangladesh court was due to decide Thursday whether the convicted killers of the nation's founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, assassinated more than three decades ago, should go to the gallows.

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (AFP) - US Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a historic plan to extend health coverage to more than 30 million Americans who lack it now and set the stage for a key test vote as early as this weekend.

JAKARTA, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Executive Director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Wahli) Ubaidillah has predicted that Jakarta will sink in 2030, if the city's government does not take anticipatory steps, Antara news agency reported Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- China on Wednesday called on the international community to work toward an integrated solution to the piracy menace in Somalia, reported Xinhua news agency.

MELBOURNE, Nov 19 (AFP) - A Bangladeshi girl separated from her conjoined twin has woken up and looks "fantastic", just two days after the marathon and high-risk operation, hospital officials said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (AFP) - The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter were named by the Webby Awards on Wednesday as among the top 10 Internet moments of the decade.

MANAMA, Nov 18 (AFP) - Security guards onboard the Maersk-Alabama container ship fended off Somali pirates in a shoot-out Wednesday, months after a previous raid ended with the dramatic rescue of the vessel's skipper.

GENEVA, Nov 18 (AFP) - Followers of the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh are being harassed in his native Vietnam, and they need the United Nations to step in to protect them, a representative said Wednesday.