REUTERS, ISLAMABAD - Pakistan successfully test fired a long-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile on Saturday, the military said, in the first missile test under a new government installed last month.

"The missile Hatf-VI (Shaheen-2) has a range of 2000 km and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads," the military said in a statement.

REUTERS, DUBAI - Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan who went missing in February appeared in a video on Al Arabiya television on Saturday saying that he is being held by Taliban militants and urged his government to meet their demands.

Tariq Azizuddin appeared in the tape surrounded by armed militants.

AFP, MUROMBEDZI - Three weeks after Zimbabwe staged a general election, a partial recount began on Saturday in a move that could see President Robert Mugabe's ruling party regain control of parliament.

Amid growing reports of violence in the troubled southern African nation, the electoral commission, which is still to declare the outcome of the March 29 presidential election, started recounting in 23 constituencies.

AFP, HANOI - Vietnam blasted into the satellite age on Saturday when a rocket launch from South America propelled its first orbiter into space, allowing it to beam home telecoms data and television signals.

From a command centre set amid lush rice fields outside the capital Hanoi, scientists tracked the Arianespace rocket as it propelled the Vinasat-1 on its path to hover 36,000 kilometres (22,000 miles) above the equator.

REUTERS, BANGKOK - Hundreds of Thai police braced for another round of anti-China protests on Saturday as the Olympic torch was readied for its parade through Bangkok, the latest leg of its troubled tour from Greece to Beijing.

Several groups angry at Beijing's human rights record and its rule in Tibet are planning demonstrations but will meet no opposition from police as long as they remain orderly, Thai Olympic chief General Yuthasak Sasiprapa said. "If they are peaceful, it's OK," he told Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday were to discuss plans for a Middle East peace conference, as Moscow seeks a greater diplomatic role in the region, reports AFP.

In talks at Putin''s residence "special attention will be paid to... possible steps by Russia including its initiative to hold a Moscow meeting on the Middle East," a Kremlin official told journalists on condition of anonymity.

Nepal''s Maoists are set to dominate a new assembly tasked with rewriting the Himalayan nation''s constitution but are likely to be short of an absolute majority, officials said Friday, reports AFP.

With the count from the April 10 elections still in progress and 601 seats in a constitutional assembly up for grabs, the former rebels have won nearly half of the 240 seats allocated by the first past the post system.

Around two-thirds of Britons fear race relations are so bad that they could spark violent clashes, according to a poll published by the BBC Friday, reports AFP.

A total of 64 percent said they thought racial tensions were certain, very likely or fairly likely to result in violence. Asked how much tension there is in Britain between different races and nationalities, 24 percent said a great deal, while 52 percent said a fair amount.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday that US-British ties would remain "steadfast" whoever succeeds US President George W. Bush after November''s election, reports AFP.

Brown said he was "delighted" to meet the three leading contenders-Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Republican John McCain-before holding talks at the White House with Bush.

Thailand''s cabinet on Friday agreed to extend emergency rule in the Muslim-majority south, with the prime minister promising that the divisive law would not last forever, reports AFP.

After a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said the state of emergency would be extended for three more months starting April 20 in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, where a separatist insurgency is raging.