AP - A suicide bomber detonated a car in an alley behind a police station in a strategically vital town in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 14 police and civilians in an explosion that shattered the station and neighboring homes, police said.

AP - North Korea's ruling communist party members gathered in Pyongyang ahead of their largest political conference in 30 years, state media reported Monday, amid predictions that leader Kim Jong Il would use the meeting to give a key ruling party position to one of his sons.

AFP - South Korea's Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-Na has moved her training base from Toronto to California after splitting with her Canadian coach, Kim's agency said Monday.

AFP - Pakistan's latest match in their controversial tour of Britain ended in a five-wicket Twenty20 defeat by world champions England at Sophia Gardens here on Sunday.

AFP - Basque separatist fighters ETA declared a ceasefire in their flagging, decades-long campaign of bombing and shooting for a homeland independent of Spain.

AP - A Chinese official defended the country's trade record Monday as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama visited Beijing amid renewed pressure by American lawmakers over Chinese currency controls.

AP - A Japanese journalist who was abducted by militants in Afghanistan five months ago has been freed by his captors and left the country, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.