The Maldives' top court yesterday ended weeks of uncertainty by rejecting President Abdulla Yameen's controversial bid to annul last month's election results, upholding his landslide defeat to an opposition candidate.

Nearly 170 Afghans were killed or wounded in poll-related violence yesterday, officials said, as the legislative election turned chaotic with many polling centres opening hours late -- or not at all -- due to technical glitches and lack of staff.

Security for Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has been stepped up following the discovery of an alleged plot to assassinate him, two of his advisers said on Thursday.

Bhutan's voters on Thursday gave an overwhelming victory to a new party headed by a surgeon in only the third democratic election held by the Himalayan kingdom, according to provisional results.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, wedged between India and China, yesterday voted in a national election guaranteed to usher in a new ruling party which must boost the economy without compromising the country's fierce independent streak.

The Taliban yesterday issued a fresh call for Afghans to boycott this week's parliamentary elections, denouncing the vote as a foreign-imposed process that went against both Islam and Afghan culture.

Opposition in the Maldives asked the police to bar President Abdulla Yameen from leaving the country hours after he announced plans to step down in the face of a likely defeat in a court case challenging his election loss.

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on telephone and rejected reports in a section of the media about him alluding to the involvement of India and its external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in an alleged plot to assassinate the President and a former defence secretary of Sri Lanka.

Punjab province authorities suspended at least 116 police officials, including top officers, in connection with the killing of demonstrators

Bangladesh has come down one spot in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index thanks to a change in methodology to better reflect today's rapidly changing, increasingly digitised world economy.

The chair of a United Nations inquiry that accused Myanmar's military of genocide is likely to brief the Security Council this month after Britain, France, the United States and six other members requested the meeting, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Pakistan's ruling party under new Prime Minister Imran Khan has maintained its slim majority in parliament after key by-elections, final results showed yesterday.

Outgoing Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has told the Supreme Court that disappearing ink and specially treated ballot papers were to blame for his heavy election defeat last month.

An ultra-nationalist monk -- dubbed the "Buddhist Bin Laden" -- condemns the international community for their calls to bring Myanmar's generals to justice over the Rohingya crisis.

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.