Cuban doctor working in E. Timor seeks asylum in Indonesia
February 15, 2006A Cuban doctor, who has been working in East Timor, has sought political asylum in Indonesia, an Indonesian police official said Thursday. Ramon Escobar, 39, escaped the East Timor border district of Covalima on Monday by bus and reached West Timor on Wednesday, Eko Trio Buniniar, head of the Belu Regency police headquarters in West Timor, told Kyodo News.
N. Korea's Kim to mark 64th birthday amid nuke stalemate
February 15, 2006North Korean leader Kim Jong Il marks his 64th birthday Thursday amid a continuing deadlock in multilateral talks over the country's nuclear programs and a question mark hanging over the transfer of power in the country. Special decorations have been put up in the streets of Pyongyang, and choir performances and film shows have begun to mark Kim's birthday, one of the country's biggest national holidays, according to diplomats in the capital and North Korea's state media.