Asia-Pacific ministers on Thursday agreed to extend a freeze on trade barriers and pledged to work toward creating a vast free trade area in the world's fastest growing region.

Indonesia's deadly volcano spit out towering clouds of ash but with clear skies over the capital - hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the west - international airlines resumed flights Thursday.

Death toll in Thailand flooding at 185 The death toll from flooding in Thailand now stands at 185, the government said on November 11.

The death toll from cholera across Haiti has risen to 644, as aid workers fight to contain the spread of the disease in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The United States is giving an additional US$150 million in direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on November 11.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss Jewish settlement building on occupied land in the West Bank where the Palestinians aim to found a state.

Tests on a failed parcel bomb sent on a US-bound cargo flight last month show it could have been designed to detonate over the eastern US, say UK police.

President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit Southeast Asia's biggest mosque on November 10 and give a major speech on US-Indonesian relations in a follow-up to last year's appeal to the Muslim world from Cairo.

Israel's plan to build new homes on occupied land should be countered by international recognition of a Palestinian state, the chief Palestinian negotiator said on November 9.

Israel on November 9 rejected the world’s criticism of moves to build 1,300 new homes in occupied east Jerusalem, insisting it would never limit construction in its "capital," the premier's office said.