Bangkok - Democrats Abroad members will be gathering in special venues throughout Asia, from a secret "watering hole" in alcohol-free Kabul to a popular barbecue house in Bangkok, to watch the US election results on Wednesday, Asia time.

If pre-election interest is anything to go by, the turnout to watch the televised results abroad is expected to break records for Democrats Abroad - the official arm of the Democratic Party for Americans living outside of the United States.

"Democrats Abroad in Thailand has more than tripled our membership in the past 10 months," said Phil Robertson, chairman of Democrats Abroad Thailand. "I've never seen such excitement over an election."

Bali, Indonesia - Lawyers for relatives of three Indonesian Muslim militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings launched a last-minute appeal Monday, in a new move to save the condemned men from imminent execution.

The three militants - Imam Samudra; Mukhlas, alias Ali Ghufron; and Amrozi - face a firing squad for their roles in the bombings of two nightspots on the popular tourist island that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Lawyer Imam Asmara Hadi said the appeal was filed in Bali's Denpasar district court because the three convicts have not been properly informed of the rejection of their previous appeal.

Tokyo - Markets across the Asia-Pacific on Thursday saw the roller-coaster ride they have been taking in recent weeks make an upward surge with key markets jumping more than 10 per cent on news of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average ended trading up nearly 10 per cent after the US central bank's rate cut as well as boosted profit prospects for Japan's exporters as the yen weakened against the dollar.

Tokyo - Markets across the Asia-Pacific on Thursday saw the roller-coaster ride they have been taking in recent weeks make an upward surge with key markets jumping more than 10 per cent on news of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average ended trading up nearly 10 per cent after the US central bank's rate cut as well as boosted profit prospects for Japan's exporters as the yen weakened against the dollar.

Bangkok - The 2004 tsunami that devastated northern Indonesia and Thailand's Andaman coast had at least one likely precedent about 600 years ago, Nature Magazine said Wednesday.

Two groups of scientists have found sedimentary evidence for possible predecessors to the 2004 catastrophe on Phra Thong Island, Thailand and in Aceh, Indonesia, suggesting that a similar-sized tsunami occurred in 1400 AD, predating any historical records.

The December 26, 2004 tsunami, triggered by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, took the region by surprise, leaving an estimated 226,000 people dead and missing from 11 countries rimming the Indian Ocean.

Washington, October 29: An international team of researchers claims that it has unearthed evidence for the movement of Asian forms of avian influenza to Alaska by northern pintail ducks.

Scientists with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) joined forces with researchers at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska and the University of Tokyo to study the role of migratory birds in the transfer of avian influenza viruses between Asia and North America.