The third China-Russia Women's Culture Week, one of the main activities celebrating the Year of Russia in China, kicked off in Beijing on Friday.

Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt, dressed as an Afghan, shot for a film at a 175-year-old fort in west Indian state Rajasthan Friday, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

The number of bird-flu infected provinces in Indonesia dropped by 14 from 30, a official said Saturday.

Some 12.7 percent of senior citizens in Beijing are willing to take out long-term care insurance, but there are just 1.52 beds for every hundred senior citizens, according to a report from the Beijing Municipal Council on October 19.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of Sino-Austria diplomatic relations and to commemorate this, the Austrian government has declared this year the "Year of China". The "2006 China Tibetan Culture Week" will be held in Austria between October 18 and 29.

China has built the world's largest Chinese bone marrow databank covering 500,000 donors.

The carcass of a female rhino was found in the Chitwan National Park in central Nepal, the National News Agency RSS reported on Friday.

A minor earthquake jolted Bangladesh 's southeastern Chittagong city and its adjoining area on Thursday night, private news agency UNB reported Friday.

Vietnam detects some 200,000 cancer cases, including 70,000 fatalities each year, local newspaper Pioneer Friday quoted sources from the country's Health Ministry.

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Thursday approved a law entitled the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2005, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2007.