North Korean tells China Pyongyang will take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

The new H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted between mammals not only via direct contact but also in airborne droplets, and may be capable of spreading from person to person.

Queenstown mountaineer Mark Woodward has become the second New Zealander to reach the top of Mt Everest for a ninth time.

An 80-year-old mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries has reached the top of Everest.

BINAJ GURUBACHARYA - AP

An 80-year-old Japanese man who began the year with his fourth heart operation became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest.

ABDUL SATTAR - AP

A large bomb hidden by the Taliban in a rickshaw exploded as a police vehicle passed in southwest Pakistan, killing 11 policemen and two civilians.

US reveals Jude Kenan Mohammad died in a drone strike in Pakistan; the fourth citizen killed by unmanned craft in the Middle East.

Japanese mountaineer became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

A 7-year-old South Korean girl has been killed instantly after being struck by the body of a man as he plunged from his 10th floor apartment in an apparent suicide.

Veteran English actor Brian Blessed has slammed people using oxygen to climb Mt Everest.

Thailand shows the world how to respond to the global food crisis: by raising bugs for eating.

Part of Mt Everest named after Sir Edmund Hillary is littered with frozen bodies and trash.

Confidante of Kim Jong-un heads to China as the superpower feels pressure to rein in its neighbour.

A New Zealand photographer is dead after falling from the 17th floor of a hotel in India.

RAF CASERT - AP

Chinese businessman pays NZ$488,000 for a racing pigeon, setting a world-record price.

Kiwi climber Dean Staples has reached the top of the world's highest mountain for a ninth time.

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their first meeting next month.

The Pentagon has played down North Korea's six short-range missile launches, describing tensions as low.

Parents of a teen who died of methanol poisoning in Indonesia hope charges will soon be laid over his death.

Researchers find a system of GPS stations could form an effective warning shield from tsunami.