Fifteen Dead in Afghan Suicide Bombing

AFGHANISTAN: NATO officials in Afghanistan say a suicide bomber has killed 15 people and wounded 14 others in the eastern part of the country. A spokesman for NATO-led forces says the attack took place today (Tuesday) in the province of Nangarhar, close to the border with Pakistan. He said militants opened fire on security forces before the bomb detonated. He also said all the dead were Afghans. Initial reports had put the number of wounded at 25, but that tally was later reduced.

IRAQ-AZIZ: The trial of Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, was delayed for several hours today (Tuesday) because of delays getting the defendant to court. A court official says the trial will get started late this afternoon (at five p.m. local time -1400 UTC). Aziz is charged with his part in the the execution of dozens of businessmen in 1992.

CHINA-TIBET: Chinese state media say a court in Tibet has imprisoned 17 people for terms of three years to life for their roles in deadly riots and violence in the region last month. The official Xinhua news agency did not give any other details on the Lhasa court ruling in a brief dispatch today (Tuesday). Tibet's Indian-based government-in-exile said today it now estimates at least 203 Tibetans were killed in a crackdown by Chinese forces on anti-government protesters and rioters. China blames Tibetan rioters for the deaths of at least 20 people.

OLYMPIC TORCH: The Olympic flame is in Vietnam after making its first relay through tightly controlled North Korea. The torch arrived at Ho Chi Minh City airport Monday under heavy security. It will be paraded through Vietnam's largest city, formerly known as Saigon, today (Tuesday). Vietnam's government has promised its ally China a peaceful torch relay, like the one Monday in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. Tens of thousands of people in Pyongyang cheered and waved along the 20-kilometer route, as 80 athletes carried the torch.

CHINA-TRAIN ACCIDENT: Chinese officials say an investigation into Monday's deadly train collision in eastern China has found it was caused by excessive speed. The official Xinhua news agency said today (Tuesday) that an investigation panel found a train traveling from Beijing was going 131 kilometers-per-hour in an 80 kilometer-an-hour zone, when it derailed and hit a second train traveling from the city of Yantai in Shandong.

Audio in Lao.