The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization has concluded its one-day summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, amid calls from two of its energy-rich members for the creation of an Asian energy club. VOA correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports, from the Kyrgyz capital, the summit's call for a multilateral approach to global problems is an indirect reaction to American influence, around the world.

Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia are due to adopt a five-year work plan to strengthen the implementation of a treaty banning nuclear weapons in the region, a Philippine diplomat said.

Singapore's stocks rose, helping the Straits Times Index to its biggest gain in two weeks. Keppel Corp. led advances among oil-services companies after crude prices reached an 11-month high of $76 a barrel.

International economists say China's huge buildup of foreign currency reserves has contributed to the boom conditions that have led to a bubble in the Shanghai stock market, which is up 400 percent in less than two years. VOA's Barry Wood has more on what might be an unanticipated consequence of China's export success.

Rapid economic growth has spurred progress in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in Asia, where the proportion of people living on a dollar a day has been cut by half, but inequality is also growing in parts of the region, says a United Nations report released today in Bangkok.

Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization say the regional grouping's activities are not directed against any third countries. Russian and Chinese Defense Ministers Anatoly Serdyukov and Cao Gangchuan made the comment today at a meeting of SCO defense ministers in Bishkek.

An international meeting of government and business leaders, including Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will discuss Asian leadership and ways to manage risks to the region's growth, organizers said Thursday.

More and more often, fishermen in Asia return home with nothing but a few small fish in their nets. Fish stocks in the region have declined dramatically in recent decades, and the quality of the catch has gone down.

In the film world, China is "red hot." Japan is making a comeback, and Thailand has the scariest horror films around. But South Korea may be the biggest draw of all. Organizers of this year's Hawaii International Film Festival say they have a deep pool of talent for the event, which will showcase more than 150 feature films, documentaries, shorts and animations from across the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to draw some 70,000 people.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today embarked on his first mission to Asia since taking office in March. Mr. Holmes, who also serves as UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, will stop in the Republic of Korea and Japan.

Asia must increase renewable energy use, improve coal-fired power plant efficiency and switch to biofuels to reduce a quarter of their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a U.S. government report said Tuesday.

Establishment of a joint research facility at the Tsinghua campus in Beijing will drive technology development 'for Asia and the world'