AFP - Japan's opposition on Tuesday pressed the unpopular government to fire a senior official who accused homeless people, many of whom have lost jobs in the recession, of laziness.

AFP - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that the Mumbai attacks in November had the support of "some official agencies" in Pakistan.

AP - India's prime minister said the sophistication of the Mumbai siege means that Pakistani authorities must have had a hand in the attack, but he was careful Tuesday not to directly accuse Islamabad, keeping tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals at a low burn.

AP - Increasingly unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso rejected calls Tuesday for his resignation, insisting he needs to steer the world's second-largest economy out of recession.

AFP - Tillakaratne Dilshan notched his second century of the match as Sri Lanka built up a massive lead of 623 over Bangladesh in the second and final Test here on Tuesday.

AFP - Campaigning kicked off Tuesday in a critical by-election seen as a test of the Malaysian government's popularity since disastrous losses in national polls last year.

AP - Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation's top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.

Reuters - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that Pakistan was whipping up war hysteria, and that the Mumbai attacks must have had support from some of its nuclear-armed neighbor's official agencies.

AP - Opposition lawmakers ended their violent, 12-day siege of South Korea's parliament Tuesday after blocking ? for now ? a U.S. free trade deal and other legislation.

AP - Filipino fishermen rescued an endangered sea cow, pushing it back into open water after it was stranded off a beach in the western Philippines, conservationists said Tuesday.

AP - Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia and possibly New Zealand and Chile to ban an anti-whaling protest ship from using their ports to refuel, heightening a cat-and-mouse game in Antarctic waters between Japan's whaling fleet and the conservationists.

AP - The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its figures for 2008 may be the militia's most startling claims yet.

AP - Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia and possibly New Zealand and Chile to ban an anti-whaling protest ship from using their ports to refuel, heightening a cat-and-mouse game in Antarctic waters between Japan's whaling fleet and the conservationists.

AP - Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in Pyongyang in a display of might and loyalty underscoring their government's guiding "military first" principal amid tensions with rival South Korea.

AP - Sri Lankan forces overran another village Monday and moved closer to seizing a strategic base from the Tamil Tigers, but concerns are mounting for the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the rebels' shrinking territory.

AP - Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, several times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.