Japan, S Korea close ranks over North's missile threat
Japan and South Korea's foreign ministers closed ranks here on Monday in the face of an unknown threat from North Korea's ballistic missile programme, officials said. But they also welcomed signs of Pyongyang being ready to negotiate on the missile fears.

Accused MQM leader distrusts Pak courts, unwilling to return
Exiled leader of the Muttehida Quami Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain has questioned the fairness of the Pakistani courts saying that he and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto were unwilling to return to the country because they do not think that justice will be done to them there.

Australia govt to apologise to aborigines
Australia may finally apologise to aborigines taken away from their homes as children under a past government policy of cultural assimilation, one of Prime Minister John Howard's closest advisers said on Monday.

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