Pakistan said yesterday it was creating a national paramilitary force, prompting concern among opposition parties and human rights groups that it could be used as a tool of political repression.

India yesterday ordered its airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing models, while South Korea said it would order a similar measure, as scrutiny intensified of fuel switch locks at the centre of an investigation into a deadly Air India crash.

The career diplomat served as high commissioner of India to Bangladesh in 2016-2019

Fuel control switches to the engines of an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 260 people, were moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position moments before impact, a preliminary investigation report said yesterday.

Negotiations about the so-called 3.0 version of the free trade zone started in November 2022 and completed in May

Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021

The Dreamliner was headed from Ahmedabad to London when it crashed, killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground

A Pakistani court yesterday suspended an order seeking to ban the YouTube channels of more than two dozen critics of the government including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a defence lawyer said.

South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill on Friday involving a US B-52 strategic bomber and fighter jets of the three allies over international waters, the South’s defence ministry said.

Authorities retrieved from Pakistan’s mountains the bullet-ridden bodies of nine passengers kidnapped by armed men in a spate of bus attacks in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said on Friday.

Pakistan police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her account on popular video-sharing app TikTok.

At least 23 people have been confirmed dead, including four children, after an attack on a monastery in a village in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, witnesses said yesterday.

Bangladesh has received nearly 150,000 Rohingyas over the past 18 months, marking the largest influx since 2017, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said he had “positive and constructive” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the two major powers vied to push their agendas in Asia at a time of tension over Washington’s tariff offensive.

However, TikTok has insisted that it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users' data

Rubio said Thursday the United States has "no intention of abandoning" the Asia-Pacific region

India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan yesterday cautioned against “a possible convergence of interests” among Bangladesh, China and Pakistan, saying it may have implications for India’s internal stability and security.

The strike excluded essential services such as hospitals, police, and fire departments

At least eight people were killed and over two dozen were missing after the Bhote Koshi River flooded, washing away the “Friendship Bridge” that links China and Nepal, officials said yesterday.

The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, a joint initiative between India and Myanmar, which will be fully operational by 2027, may open up new trade opportunities for neighbouring countries, said India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.