An Indian politician who resigned from the government last month after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment, said yesterday he had a consensual relationship with a New York-based journalist who has accused him of raping her.

The European Union has threatened to impose trade sanctions on Myanmar if it does not address the widespread human rights violations against the Rohingyas in Rakhine and other minorities in Kachin and Shan states.

Tensions escalated in Assam as Indian security forces launched a major counter-insurgency operation in the state yesterday, a day after suspected militants of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-Independent) shot dead five Bangla-speaking men.

An activist of The United Peoples Democratic Front (democratic faction) was shot dead allegedly by his rivals in his house of Khagrachhari's Dighinala upazila yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged people to re-elect the Awami League to make Bangladesh a developed and prosperous country.

The body of journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi was "dissolved" after he was murdered and dismembered in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul a month ago, according to a Turkish official.

British police announced yesterday they were investigating alleged "anti-Semitic hate crimes" within the main opposition Labour Party after receiving a leaked internal dossier.

The Vatican has opened its archives to detectives hunting for clues to the identity of a skeleton discovered in its embassy in Rome, as another potential murder victim emerged yesterday.

Spanish prosecutors yesterday called for Catalan separatist leaders to be jailed for up to 25 years on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds over last year's failed secession bid.

Dutch prosecutors said yesterday they had not managed to establish how a Bosnian Croat war criminal got the poison he used in his courtroom suicide in front of UN judges.

A Malaysian financier at the centre of a corruption scandal surrounding state fund 1MDB maintained his innocence yesterday after the US unveiled criminal charges against him and two ex-Goldman Sachs bankers.

China yesterday challenged the United States to show evidence to support charges that Beijing backed a scheme by Chinese and Taiwanese companies to steal trade secrets from a US-based semiconductor firm.

Over 1,000 Google employees and contractors in Asia, Europe and the United States staged brief midday walk-outs yesterday, with more expected to follow at California headquarters, amid complaints of sexism, racism, and unchecked executive power in their workplace.

An ansar member was allegedly killed by garment workers when they were vandalising factories in Gazipur over a rumour of a fellow worker's death yesterday noon.

Barrister Mainul Hosein was yesterday shown arrested in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for defaming journalist Masuda Bhatti during a TV talk show on October 16.

Bangladesh trumped India to reach the final of the SAFF U-15 Championship with a thrilling 4-2 win on penalties at the ANFA Complex ground in Kathmandu yesterday.

Governments worldwide are stepping up use of online tools, in many cases inspired by China's model, to suppress dissent and tighten their grip on power, a human rights watchdog study found yesterday.

Yemen's government yesterday said it was ready to re-start peace talks with Huthi rebels, as international pressure to end the years-long conflict intensifies.

UN human rights experts have strongly urged states to take firm steps to ensure accountability for violence and attacks against journalists, and reversing and resisting the trend of impunity.

Nato on Wednesday urged Russia to comply fully with a Cold War nuclear weapons treaty after US President Donald Trump announced he wanted to pull out of the deal.