AP - A coalition service member was killed in fighting in Afghanistan's turbulent south Sunday, while a political rival of President Hamid Karzai questioned his approach to pending talks with Taliban who might be having doubts about the insurgency.

AP - East Asia is the world's electronics factory, yet unless they are Japanese, producers are largely anonymous. Now HTC Corp., a Taiwanese maker of smart phones, is moving out of the shadows and trying to establish its own brand name as it competes with Apple's iPhone.

AFP - Pakistani authorities were Sunday trying to protect another town from floodwaters in southern Sindh province, as the nation continues to grapple with its worst natural disaster in living memory.

AP - A Japanese journalist who was abducted by apparent Taliban militants in Afghanistan five months ago has been freed by his captors, reports said Sunday.

AFP - A British man who went to the Philippines to propose to a woman he met in an Internet chat room was stabbed to death by her jealous lover on Sunday, police said.

AP - The powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted rail lines around the New Zealand city of Christchurch also ripped a new fault line in the Earth's surface, a geologist said Sunday.

AFP - A fourth Pakistan cricketer was reportedly being investigated over alleged match-fixing Sunday, with fresh betting scam claims casting a shadow over the country's one-day match against England.

Reuters - A Japanese journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan in April has been freed, according to an Afghan provincial official who said on Sunday the journalist had been abducted by the Taliban.

AP - Philippine police commandos killed an Abu Sayyaf commander linked to last year's kidnapping of Red Cross workers and gunned down two other militants in a clash in the south, officials said Sunday. Police went on full alert after the killings to guard against any retaliatory attacks.

Reuters - The Philippines' national police chief took the blame for the botched bus hijacking rescue attempt last week that killed eight Hong Kong tourists at a Manila park, announcing his decision to retire early from the service.