AFP - Defending champions Pohang Steelers put their AFC Champions League challenge back on track on Wednesday with a narrow 2-1 victory, but Japanese powerhouse Gamba Osaka were held 1-1 at home.

AFP - Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from standing in polls this yearand may be excluded from her own party under the military junta's new election laws unveiled on Wednesday.

AFP - Britain expressed "regret" Wednesday that Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own party and is barred from standing in polls this year under new election laws.

AFP - Militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the offices of a US-based Christian charity in Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six aid workers in an attack blamed on Islamist rebels.

AFP - Former Pakistan captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf have been banned from the national cricket team after the recent catastrophic tour of Australia, the cricket board said Wednesday.

AFP - An Azerbaijani court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by two bloggers jailed after satirizing the government with an Internet video that showed a donkey giving a press conference, their lawyer said.

AFP - In a shock move, Bangladesh's young middle order batsman Raqibul Hasan has retired from all forms of cricket ahead of the country's first Test match against England, an official said Wednesday.

AFP - The United States hit out Wednesday at Myanmar's military junta for excluding political prisoners from taking part in upcoming elections, saying the polls were now "devoid of credibility."

AP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used a brief visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday to lob insults at the United States and argue that international forces won't stop terrorism and will only lead to more civilian deaths.

AP - Myanmar's military regime took yet another step to expunge Aung San Suu Kyi from the political scene Wednesday by effectively barring her from the first elections in 20 years and pressuring her opposition party to expel her from its ranks.

AP - Suspected militants armed with assault rifles and a homemade bomb attacked the offices of a U.S.-based Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six Pakistani employees, police and the organization said.

AP - Like the United States, China is having its own tea party movement, but this one has a very different agenda.

AP - EDITOR'S NOTE — Miles Edelsten is a senior producer for Associated Press Television News and has covered Japan for 10 years.

AP - The Dalai Lama lashed out at China on Wednesday, accusing it of trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet and rebuffing all his efforts to reach a compromise over the disputed Himalayan region.

AP - The discovery of a genetically distinct colony of Tasmanian devils may save the species from being wiped out by a contagious cancer that has decimated the population, Australian scientists said Wednesday.

AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal.

AP - North Korea plans to replace its top diplomat in Switzerland who is believed to be a key manager of leader Kim Jong Il's alleged secret funds stashed overseas, a news report said Wednesday.