News: Asia

Barack Obama urges China to change its currency strategy, a move that would effectively raise the value of the yuan and benefit US exporters.

The number of billionaires in India doubled in 2009, Forbes magazine says.

Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka is to be put on military trial next week, officials say.

China fears protests this week to mark the anniversaries of ethnic uprisings.

The chief minister of India's Gujarat state, Narendra Modi, is summoned to appear before an inquiry into riots in 2002.

Leaders of both countries met in Islamabad and stressed that stability hinged on mutual cooperation.

Afghanistan does not want other countries' "proxy wars" fought on its soil, President Hamid Karzai says in Islamabad.

Japan voices opposition to a proposed ban on international trade in bluefin tuna, after the EU backs the plan.

Drug abuse is rife in the Afghan police force with up to 40% of recruits testing positive in some areas, a US report says.

While pledging nonviolence, protest leaders say they will gather mass rallies and blockades of government offices, starting on Friday and building over the following days.

Carmaker Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota, is recalling 274,551 vehicles in Japan because of a number of possible defects.

China has 64 billionaires, second only to the United States, Forbes magazine says in its annual list.

Police in Pakistan dismiss reports a five-year-old British boy who was kidnapped last week has been released.

Japan's economy grew by less than first estimated in the final quarter of 2009, revised government figures show.

Chinese inflation hit a 16-month high in February, leading to calls for the government to take measures to cool the economy.

Japan opens an airport in Ibaraki offering just one flight a day, sparking criticism over wasteful public spending.

Russian PM Vladimir Putin is due in India for talks expected to focus on arms and energy contracts.

Indian security forces step up their operations against Maoist rebels in eastern states, security officials say.

Burma's election laws provoke widespread condemnation, but military rulers re-open opposition party offices.

Two missile strikes by US drone aircraft kill at least 12 suspected militants in north-west Pakistan, security officials say