Indian police have rescued more than 180 Nepali men and women in a major operation near the border with Myanmar after activists raised suspicions they were being trafficked into forced labour.

Myanmar's parliament yesterday voted to set up a committee to discuss amending the country's constitution, despite objections by military-aligned lawmakers against a move that is likely to challenge the army's power.

BJP president Amit Shah said yesterday the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi versus the rest.

Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday rebuked the powerful military and intelligence agencies, calling for them to uphold free speech and stay out of politics in a country ruled by the generals for nearly half its existence.

Nepal yesterday approved a third extension for commissions tasked with probing crimes committed during its decade-long civil war, promising changes to make the hamstrung bodies effective.

Myanmar's parliament votes to set up a committee to discuss amending the country's constitution, despite objections by military-aligned lawmakers against a move that is likely to challenge the army's power.

Bangladesh will seek more Indian support to resolve the Rohingya crisis as foreign minister AK Abdul Momen is set to reach New Delhi tonight in his maiden overseas tour since the Awami League government was formed for the third consecutive term.

Women who lived under the harsh rule of the Taliban urged senior Afghan politicians to ensure their hard-won freedoms are not bargained away when they talk peace with the insurgents yesterday.

Sri Lanka is ready to execute five drug convicts and end its 42-year capital punishment moratorium once President Maithripala Sirisena signs the death warrants and a hangman is appointed, officials said yesterday.

Two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers, the world's "Third Pole", could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced, scientists warned in a major new study issued yesterday.

A Nepali woman has died of suspected smoke inhalation while banished to a hut during her period, police said yesterday, just weeks after the deaths of a mother and two children in similar circumstances sparked outrage.

The Border Security Force has shot dead a Bangladeshi cattle trader near Nabinagar border in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila, in sixth such incident since January, said officials of the Border Guard Bangladesh.

US President Donald Trump is serious about getting out of Afghanistan, the Taliban told AFP yesterday, outlining the "Islamic system" comprising "all Afghans" that the group says it hopes to establish under any peace deal.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay K Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood late on Wednesday night and lodged a strong protest against Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's phone call to a moderate Kashmir separatist leader saying such action tantamount to a “direct interference” in India's internal affairs.

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman whose acquittal was upheld this week in a blasphemy saga which has made her a prime target for vigilantes, is still in Pakistan, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

The head of Love Commandos, an organisation which offers shelter to runaway lovers, has been arrested in Delhi for extortion and abuse of desperate couples, officials said yesterday.

India's National Investigation Agency arrested two key members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) involved in the Burdwan blast of October 2014 from West Bengal on Monday.

A swine flu outbreak in one of India's biggest tourist hubs, Rajasthan state in the west of the country, has killed 76 people this year, government officials said yesterday. Colder weather has worsened the seasonal outbreak of H1N1 virus, with Rajasthan recording more than a third of all swine flu deaths in India.

A call by Pakistani religious hardliners for protests fell flat yesterday as Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a years-long blasphemy row, was expected to leave the country having cleared a last legal hurdle.

Negotiations in Afghanistan are going well, US President Donald Trump said yesterday, after US officials earlier this week said there had been significant progress in talks to end 17 years of war in the country.