<B>Asean. Australia to cement Asian ties with trade deal. </B>A free trade agreement being pursued between Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia would boost regional trade but could also help Australia cement its sometimes uncertain friendships in Asia, analysts say. Leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia and New Zealand, will consider on Monday a plan by economic and trade ministers to conclude a free trade deal by 2007 after starting formal talks next year. But while most analysts and economists believe the deal would eventually benefit the economies of all 12 nations, it would also allow Australia, which already has a free trade deal with close ally the United States, to shore up often uneasy ties with Asia.

<B> Philippine. Rescuers scour seas as storm toll rises. </B>Rescuers scoured seas in the Philippines yesterday for dozens of people still missing in the wake of two storms that battered the country and killed at least 79 people. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said at least 18 people had died in the two northern provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija, mostly due to drowning in flash floods triggered by tropical depression Merbok on Tuesday. Six are still missing and 14 were injured in those provinces.

<B>China. Black boxes recovered from lake crash site.</B> Chinese divers searching an icy lake have recovered the two flight recorders from a commuter jet that crashed seconds after takeoff killing 54 people, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. One of the “black boxes”, the cabin voice recorder from the China Eastern Airlines Bombardier CRJ200, was damaged and would be sent to Beijing for examination, it quoted experts at the crash site as saying. The 50-seat, short-haul jet, carrying 47 passengers and six crew, crashed on Sunday after taking off from Baotou in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia for Shanghai.

<B>Indonesia. Four suspects arrested in embassy blast.</B> Indonesian police have arrested four suspects in the deadly September bombing of Australia’s Jakarta embassy, but said yesterday a top bombmaker may have eluded arrest despite being stopped by traffic officers. Police Chief General Da’i Bachtiar confirmed media reports that one of the detained men had said that Azahari, one of Asia’s most wanted men and accused of orchestrating the bombing, had been stopped several times by traffic police for violations and gave money to officers who failed to recognise him and let him go.

<B>India. Singh and Aziz to talk after spat over Kashmir. </B>Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh yesterday for talks that are expected to put aside a recent spat over disputed Kashmir and give a push to a plodding peace process. Aziz is on the second day of a two-day visit to New Delhi as part of a regional tour, but his talks with Singh are likely to focus on the faltering peace process between the nuclear rivals that has been bedevilled by differences over Himalayan Kashmir.

<B> Afghanisthan. Freed UN hostages meet Karzai. </B>Three UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan met President Hamid Karzai yesterday and appeared happy and well despite a kidnap ordeal lasting nearly four weeks. Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan stood at Karzai’s side and smiled for photographers after discussing their captivity with him at his presidential palace in Kabul. The three were abducted on Oct. 28 after helping to run a presidential election won by the US-backed incumbent.

Africa. Leaders serious on continent’s reform.</B> NEPAD, backed by the Group of Eight industrialised countries, is trying to prove that an economic rescue plan set up three years ago and aimed at attracting foreign investment is more than another talking shop. Members are also signing up for a review programme that is aimed at pushing for transparent government and democratic principles in exchange for donor dollars. Countries scoring poorly will be named and shamed. About 20 leaders attended the meeting under tight security in Algiers, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki. “The NEPAD mechanism is still in its infancy age and we expect it to grow up very soon,” said Obasanjo, chairing the summit and current head of the 53-member African Union (AU).