An Islamist militant commander who helped plan an assault on a Pakistani jail on Sunday which freed nearly 400 prisoners said his group had inside information.

The banging of Win Maung's hammer echoes across the farming village of Kya-oh in parched central Myanmar, as twilight descends upon its thatched-roof homes.

About 300 people have died and 8,000 others were injured after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Qinghai Province early on Wednesday, a local official said.

Thai security forces have retaken an anti-government satellite TV station and stopped its broadcasts, after a day-long confrontation with protesters. The red-shirted demonstrators had forced officials to put the People Channel back on air on Friday a

Hours after a suicide attack at a political rally in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province Monday, three explosions went off in rapid succession near the U.S. consulate in the province's capital, Peshawar, police said.