Thailand has passed a law banning foreign couples from using Thai women as surrogates after a series of high-profile scandals tainting the image of the hitherto unregulated industry.

Indian police have arrested six people including a senior journalist on charges of stealing top-secret documents from India's petroleum ministry and selling them on to energy companies, police said yesterday.

Indonesia has delayed the execution of two Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, by up to a month, backtracking on an earlier pledge to put the pair before the firing squad by the end of February. Indonesian authorities insist they will

US and British intelligence services can tap into mobile voice and data communications of many devices after stealing encryption keys of a major SIM card maker, a report said Thursday.

The United States and Turkey on Thursday signed a deal to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebel forces after several weeks of talks, officials said.

The US wants Iraq to launch its offensive to retake the strategic northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group in April or May, military officials said Thursday.

Germany and France yesterday demanded that a crumbling Ukraine truce be "fully respected" even as pro-Russian rebels celebrated a battlefield victory in a strategic town and exchanged artillery fire elsewhere with government troops.

A court hall in Mysuru has remained locked for more than nine months in the fear that the room is haunted, triggering a firestorm of protests from lawyers.

Some 25 people, including senior officials, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital, witnesses have told the BBC. The Central Hotel, often frequented by politicians, was hit by a car bomb and a suicide attack. Gunmen then stormed the hotel mosque and opened fire during Friday prayers.

Thailand passes law banning foreigners from paying Thai women to be surrogates, after two high-profile cases sparked debate last year

US and British intelligence agencies illegally hacked a major manufacturer of Sim cards to steal codes and facilitate eavesdropping on mobiles

Two major storms slams into Australia, bringing winds knocking out power to homes and forcing evacuations in coastal areas.

Germany's finance ministry yesterday rejected a Greek request to European partners for a six-month extension to its EU loan programme, but the German vice chancellor called it a "starting point".

The United States yesterday sought to galvanize global action against violent extremist groups, amid warnings the world was confronted with "a new war against a new enemy."

Tiny nano-particles that act like miniature drones could deliver a knock-out punch to plaque buildup in the arteries, according to an experimental approach described by US scientists on Wednesday.

India's Kalyani industrial group announced yesterday a "substantial" joint venture with Israel to make missiles and other weapons, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi eased rules on foreign ownership in defence.

Aid workers called yesterday for a ceasefire to allow the evacuation of people trapped around a town at the centre of fierce fighting between Myanmar's army and ethnic rebels, after the deaths of two more civilians in an area cloaked in a state of emergency.

Qatar recalled its ambassador to Egypt yesterday following a row over Cairo's air strikes on jihadist targets in Libya, threatening fresh divisions among Western-allied Arab states.

The US Department of Justice is preparing to sue the Ferguson, Missouri, police department over allegations of racially discriminatory practices unless the police force agrees to make changes, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia yesterday pledged to try to save a tattered ceasefire in eastern Ukraine despite violations -- including the storming of a key town by pro-Russian rebels.