Maldives judges yesterday heard a petition by strongman president Abdulla Yameen to have his recent election defeat annulled, potentially triggering US sanctions and plunging the Indian Ocean archipelago into fresh turmoil.

In a statement released after he arrived in India from an official tour in Nigeria, Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar terms the allegations against him “false and fabricated”.

At least 22 people have died and many are missing after heavy rain unleashed flash floods and landslides in western Indonesia, an official

Nine members of a South Korean climbing expedition were killed after a violent snowstorm swept them off a cliff on Nepal's Mount Gurja, one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents to hit the Himalayan nation in recent years.

The United States yesterday warned that action could be taken against outgoing Maldives president Abdulla Yameen if he seeks to overturn his election defeat.

At least 14 people were killed and 30 injured in an explosion at an election rally for a woman standing as a candidate in Afghanistan's parliamentary polls, officials said yesterday.

A Taliban delegation has met with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict, the militant group said yesterday, the first time either side has officially confirmed talks.

More than 800 faces, 15 pages, one vote. Kabul voters will wrestle with newspaper-sized ballot papers on October 20, racing to find their candidate in a city under constant threat from militant attacks.

A Pakistani high court judge who publicly accused the country's powerful intelligence service of manipulating judicial decisions to influence the last general election was removed from his post Thursday.

Cyclonic storm Titli left eight people dead and caused widespread damage in two coastal districts in India's Andhra Pradesh yesterday. However, there was no casualty or major destruction in adjacent Odisha, officials said.

Sri Lanka's parliament yesterday passed legislation to pay compensation to victims of the island's brutal civil war, nearly a decade after the end of the conflict which claimed 100,000 lives.

Maldives strongman President Abdulla Yameen yesterday filed a legal challenge against his recent landslide election defeat despite international pressure for him to go quietly.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) central executive committee in an 'emergency meeting' on Monday night decided to launch a protest movement against what it termed political victimisation of opponents by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government.

Two former prime ministers of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, facing allegations of treason yesterday appeared before a court along with a prominent journalist in a hearing to determine whether the case should go to trial.

The Taliban yesterday directed Afghans to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections and demanded a complete withdrawal of foreign forces as the only solution to end the 17-year-old war as they ramped up attacks in strategic provinces.

In a rapidly growing world of internet users, Bangladesh has been ranked fifth largest internet using country in Asia.

At least 10 policemen were killed in clashes with Taliban fighters in the central Afghan province of Wardak, officials said yesterday, amid

Pakistan opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif was arrested yesterday for graft, officials said, the latest corruption allegation against the Sharif political dynasty that was ousted from power by ex-cricketer Imran Khan in elections this summer.

An airstrike by security forces killed four people and wounded eight others who were part of a wedding procession in the southeast

An elephant that was part of a group hunting a man-eating tigress in western India ran astray overnight and trampled a woman to death,