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Reports on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's plans to stretch the family dynasty into a third generation. Announcement of a succession plan by Kim three weeks before his 63rd birthday; Kim's references to past statements made by his father Kim Il Sung about succession; Uncertainty about who among three sons will be chosen as successor.

Cites the suggestion of Khabarovsk region governor Victor Ishaev for Russia to end a pacific oil pipeline at the industrial port of De-Kastri used by the Exxon Mobil Corp. to ship oil from its Sakhalin project.

Reports on the efforts of teams of American and European forensic technicians to identify and preserve for burial as many as 2,000 bodies of the foreign vacationers who died in the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Taku Pa, Thailand. Their fight against heat and time at makeshift morgues; Promise made by Thai authorities to respect the wishes of Western governments to repatriate all identifiable remains of foreigners.

Focuses on the experiences of Anders Bang-Erricson and his wife, Lise, when the tsunami struck Phuket, Thailand on December 26, 2005 and swept their two-year old son away. Decision of the couple to stay longer in Phuket to look for their missing son, Ragnar; Difficulty of identifying the bodies found in Thailand's beaches; Efforts of the Bang-Erricsons to find their son.

Reports on how elephants are helping in the search and recovery of tsunami victims in Thailand and Indonesia. Advantages over the use of heavy equipment; Claim that elephants are also working to clear roads and move debris in Aceh Province, Indonesia; Story on how elephants saved the lives of European tourists in Khao Luk.

Reports on South Korean shipbuilding firm, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s use of computer models to increase the size of container ships manufactured by the company. Worth of the ships exported by the country during 2004; Competition posed by Japan and China on the South Korean shipbuilding industry; Types of ships being built by Hyundai to keep up with the competition.

Discusses Russia's policies towards North Korean refugees in 2005. Fears that a collapse of North Korea could bring an uncontrolled flood of Korean refugees to Russia; Impact of initiatives by South Korea to discourage defectors from North Korea; Implications on international relations.

Reports that the U.S. cargo planes have started a shuttle service from Bangkok International Airport to facilitate relief effort for tsunami victims along the coast of Thailand and other nations on the rim of the Indian Ocean. Challenge of how to distribute aid to survivors scattered along the region; Difficulty of identifying victims from 38 nations according to standards set by Interpol; Confirmed number of dead and missing persons in Thailand; Appeal for more refrigerated containers and dry ice to preserve the dead in the beach resorts of southern Thailand.

Profiles Tsakhia Elbegdorf, prime minister of Mongolia, which is Central Asia's only multiparty democracy. Harvard graduate; Previous role as opposition journalist; Founder of the independent newspaper called "Democracy"; Role of the United States which has provided money and advice in the quest to build strong democratic institutions.

Reports that Japanese leaders are threatening economic penalties on North Korea, driven by widespread anger after North Korea tried to pass off a box of mixed human bones as the remains of a woman who was kidnapped from Japan years ago as a teenager. Japanese politicians and public opinion polls' expression of strong support for banning North Korean ships from ports in Japan.

Reports on the furor over admissions that spas in Japan are tampering with their water supply to make it look rich in minerals. Environment Ministry's survey of water use practices; Refusal to inform patrons about such practices; Construction of spas using development grants to rural towns in an effort to narrow Japan's urban-rural gap.

Reports on Japan's adoption of plans to shift its military focus away from the cold-war threat of invasion from the Soviet Union to guarding against missiles from North Korea and Chinese incursions around its southernmost islands. Reduction of Japan's tanks and artillery pieces; Increase in investment in missiles; Formation of a squadron of midair refueling planes to allow existing aircraft to attack North Korean missile sites and return home safely to Japan

Reports that a North Korean man jumped from a neighboring building onto the roof of the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok, Russia and has asked for asylum. Ratification of the North Korean Human Rights Act that calls for an increase in U.S. support for democratic movements in the communist nation.

Reports that Charles Robert Jenkins, the U.S. Army sergeant who left his soldiers and walked into North Korea in 1965 to avoid combat duty in Vietnam, has received a light sentence after pleading guilty in a court-martial held on November 3, 2004 in Camp Zama in Japan. Testimony about Jenkins' harsh life in North Korea; Punishments given to Jenkins; Prosecutor Seth Cohen's call for a need for military discipline while American soldiers are fighting in Iraq.

Reports on the negotiation of China with Exxon Mobil Corp. for the purchase of gas from the Sakhalin Island field, which Japan presumed assumed to be their power source for decades to come. Loss of the Siberian oil pipeline; Stalemate of talks between China and Japan over a Chinese gas exploration project; Concern of the Japanese about a reservoir which straddles the border.

Reports that a United States Army judge accepted the guilty plea of Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins on charges of desertion in North Korea. Number of years of privation in North Korea.

Reports that Japan issued a series of currency bills on November 1, 2004. Features of the bill; Value of the Japanese yen; Aim in releasing the bills of preventing counterfeiting.

Reports on voting on American military bases. Voter participation in American bases around the world.

Reports on the joint projects of the North and South Korea. Building of an industrial park.

Reports on the offer made by North Korea to show foreign diplomats the site of a mysterious explosion that it said was intended to blow up a mountain for a hydroelectric dam. International concern raised by satellite photographs of a mushroom cloud that North Korea had tested a nuclear bomb on September 9, 2004.

Reports on the anti-base protest in Okinawa, Japan. Public reaction to the crash of a United States Marine Corps cargo helicopter into a university building in the area; Controversy over images of American marines allowing pizza-delivery motorcycles inside the base; Comments of high school teacher, Chikako Oguma on the U.S. policy which prohibited Japanese police investigators from entering the base; Lieutenant General Robert Blackman's explanation on the issue of letting pizza deliverymen into the base

Reports that Charles Robert Jenkins, who allegedly disappeared in North Korea in January 6, 1965, has surrendered to the United States Army at military headquarters in Japan. Charges filed against Jenkins aside from desertion; Japanese government's call for leniency in connection with the abduction of his wife and other Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

Reports on North Korea's warning that the disclosed South Korean experiment with uranium enrichment could "accelerate a northeast Asia nuclear arms race". Accusation that the U.S. is applying "double standards" to the nuclear programs of the two Koreas.

Reports on the announcement of South Korean Roh Moo Hyun of an official campaign to identify Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese during Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea. Granting to academics of full access to government archives; Concerns of South Korean politicians over the political motivation for the campaign; Weak public enthusiasm for campaign.

Reports that South Korea nuclear research institute president Chang In Soon talked about the government's enrichment of a minuscule amount of uranium as an academic test. Experiment was intended to get more mileage from contaminated equipment that was headed for the scrap heap; Enrichment violated several nuclear weapons treaties.

Reports on the second death threat received by North Korean defector Kim Duk Hong. Kim's fear for safety; Need to promote an image of peace and harmony in the peninsula; Consideration of legislation on national security.

Discusses the legal condition of American chess master Bobby Fischer's stay in Japan. Decision of the U.S. to revoke Fischer's passport to facilitate extradition to the U.S. for trial; Existence of a 1992 arrest warrant violating a trade embargo on Yugoslavia; Strategy by Fischer to avoid extradition by acquiring a stateless status by renouncing his American citizenship; Plan of Fisher to seek for a German citizenship or marriage to the Japanese national chess player, Miyoko Watai.

Reports on the negotiation that will ship Russian liquefied natural gas across the Pacific to help power California. Implication of the deal on the Russian-U.S. energy business relations; Terms of the deal; Companies involved in the deal; Political aspects of the deal.

Reports on the redevelopment of the former Olympic Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales. Economic life after the two-week Olympics; Occupancies at the Novotel Sydney Olympic Park complex; Upscale residential development projects; Commercial and residential construction planned for the Olympic site.

Reports that former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been transferred to a detention center in Ushiku, Japan. Charges against Fischer in the United States for defying an international embargo on travel to Yugoslavia in 1992.

Reports that a section of steam pipe that blew out at a nuclear power plant in Mihama, Japan, had not been inspected in 28 years, according to authorities. Number of workers killed; Economy, trade and industry minister Shoichi Nakagawa's visit to the power plant; Corrosion of the pipe; Government investigation of the accident.

Reports that four workers were killed and five others were burned when a superheated steam erupted from the ceiling of a nuclear plant north in Kyoto, Japan, on August 9, 2004. Comments from officials about the nuclear accident; Reassurance made by officials that there were no radioactive materials contained in the steam; Impact of the accident on Japanese concerns about nuclear power.

Reports that Andre Tolme, a 35-year-old civil engineer from New Hampshire, has completed golfing across Mongolia. Division of the nation by Tolme into an 18-hole, 2.3 million-yard course.

Focuses on Russia's President Vladimir V. Putin's inauguration of a link in a Russia highway that starts in St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland, and ends later in Vladivostok, on the sea of Japan.

Reports that Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be fighting for his political life in upper-house parliamentary elections in July 2004. Public opinion polls show his approval ratings at its lowest; Koizumi has promised to cut highway tolls and appointed a private sector executive to run the deficit-ridden national pension system; Koizumi orchestrated the reunion of a divided Japanese-American family.

Reports on the exodus of Chinese and South Korean farmers into the far eastern section of Russia. Entry of Chinese farmers into sharecropping arrangements with Russian landowners; Entry of South Korean commercial farms on leased land; Increase in Russia's food exports to China.

Reports on the results of the July 7, 2004 elections in Mongolia. Reduction in the seats held by ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in Parliament; Number of seats won by the opposition Motherland Democratic Coalition; Allegations that the ruling party engaged in electoral fraud.

Reports that Russia wants to supply electricity and gas to North Korea. Condition set by North Korean negotiators in exchange for giving up their country's nuclear-bomb program; Feasibility study on a gas pipeline extension to the Korean peninsula; North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's rail travels.

Reports that the adventurer Andre Tolme is golfing his way across Mongolia. Use of a route favored a millennium ago by Genghis Khan; Equipment used in and schedule of the adventure; Encounters with nomads.

Reports on the trend among internal shipping companies to buy into the lax shipping regulations of Mongolia. Number of monthly new registrations of the country's shipping office since it opened its doors to international shipping companies; Concerns that the Mongolian registry policy can potentially compromise international shipping safety and security regulations.

Focuses on the construction of oil and gas platforms on the port of Vostochny in Russia. Investments made by Japanese companies, including Mitsui and Mitsubishi, in the project; Estimated construction cost; Amount invested by the Japanese companies in the project; Trade relations between Japan and Russia.