Beijing, China — A nearly completed 13-floor apartment building suddenly toppled over Saturday in Shanghai, costing one worker his life. The structure just fell on its side, still largely intact. The news raised fears among would-be homebuyers already under stress due to high housing prices in the city.

Tokyo, Japan — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday praised celebrities who use their fame to promote humanitarian causes under U.N. auspices. Ban was meeting with eight Japanese goodwill ambassadors at the U.N. University in downtown Tokyo during his two-day visit to Japan.

New York, NY, United States — Yicheng was a little-known Chinese city of half a million in Hubei province as recently as a week ago. It was the appointment of Zhou Senfeng as its mayor that not only brought publicity to the city, but also made the new mayor a national figure – a controversial one.

Manila, Philippines — Last month the Philippines was scandalized when sex videos of prominent personalities were uploaded on YouTube. This prompted a call for tougher laws to protect individuals’ privacy. A lobby was also launched to give the government more power to combat child pornography.

Beijing, China — China’s National Audit Office released its statement of revenues and expenditures for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Saturday, reporting a net profit of 1 billion yuan (US$146 million). But a number of items seemed to be missing in the official report.

Beijing, China — Violent clashes with police rocked the Chinese city of Sishou in the central province of Hubei over the weekend, with at least 10,000 citizens turning out to protest the suspicious death of a young chef in a local hotel as authorities tried to claim the body.

Seoul, South Korea — Ever since their country was divided after World War II, South Koreans have held dual images of North Korea. On one hand it is the “arch enemy" that launched a fratricidal war in 1950. On the other hand, it is a "brother nation" where 22 million Korean people are suffering from acute food shortages.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. If we fail to accomplish this the results could be catastrophic. Climate change, our worst problem since the 20th century, is now rearing its ugly head.

New York, NY, United States — That the Chinese government intends to construct a “dam” to block the flood of inappropriate content from the Internet has encountered a flood of complaints. The government says it aims to protect children, but Chinese netizens are mainly adults who very much dislike being controlled by the government.

Chengdu, China — China is introducing a new policy on outdoor advertising throughout the country. City governments are claiming the right to manage outdoor "visual space" – and proposing that they should “share” up to 40 percent of the profits generated by advertising companies.