More civilians were killed in the Afghan war in 2018 than during any other year on record after nearly two decades of fighting, according to a UN report released yesterday.

At least 13 people are killed and six injured when an explosion rips through a shop in Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh state, officials say.

At least 300 vehicles are destroyed in a massive fire at a parking lot near the Aero India venue in Bengaluru’s Yelahanka Air Force Station.

World media yesterday highlighted the lax safety regulations and previous deadly fire incidents in Bangladesh, specially in the historic Old Dhaka, where a blaze on Wednesday night ripped through several multi-storey buildings killing at least 67 people and injuring dozens more.

India's Congress Party yesterday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day.

Nepal's government on Wednesday tabled draft legislation that would impose harsh penalties for "improper" social media posts, igniting concerns it could be used to suppress freedom of speech and stifle dissent.

India's Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of more than 1 million indigenous people and others who live in forests, after the federal government failed to defend a law aimed at protecting their rights.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on India and Pakistan to take “immediate steps” to de-escalate tensions between the two nations following the Pulwama terror attack, reiterating that his good offices are available if both sides ask.

Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday said Pakistan would retaliate if attacked by India in response to a bombing in the disputed Kashmir region, which India blamed on Pakistan, while adding he wanted to cooperate in investigating the blast.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suffered a series of political reverses in recent months but widespread anger after 40 troopers were killed in an Islamist militant attack last week could lead to a surge in support for his Hindu nationalist party.

An Indian man on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying committed "terrorist acts" including targeted killings and kidnappings on New Delhi's orders "to create anarchy", Islamabad's lawyers told the UN's top court yesterday.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners from the kingdom's jails during a high-profile visit to Islamabad, Pakistan's information minister says.

Maldives authorities yesterday detained former strongman president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali says Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi have reached a multi-dimensional and comprehensive platform benefitting the peoples of the two closest neighbours.

Bangladesh’s leading cultural outfit Chhayanaut is conferred the Indian government’s prestigious Rabindranath Tagore Cultural Harmony award for 2015 at an impressive function in New Delhi of India.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia has signed investment agreements worth $20 billion during his high-profile visit to Pakistan, where tensions were flaring up with nuclear-armed rival India.

Celebrations have erupted in northeast India after a contentious nationality law put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government failed to pass.

Despite good relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan, the bilateral trade volume is relatively small and limited to few goods.

Police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of several thousand demonstrators in eastern Myanmar yesterday, activists said, as protests mount over a new and controversial statue.

An opinion piece in the International New York Times criticising Pakistan's powerful army was censored by its local publisher yesterday, replaced by a blank space in a country where it can be dangerous to reprimand the military.